Keeping Secrets
by Corrupting A Moron
Summary: Bianca is called in to assist in a homicide. Can she help apprehend the killer? Contains violence, sex scenes and strong language. For mature audiences only. Reader discretion advised.
1. Chapter 1

**Keeping Secrets – Chapter 1**

Before we begin I'd like to thank Duffie83 for proofreading and correcting my terrible Australian English with grammatically correct American English.

Also, as we all know, reviews make for more and better stories. I'd really appreciate if you dropped me a line if you took the time to read this; good, bad or indifferent, although it would be nice if the criticisms were constructive.

Reader discretion applies for this chapter - contains strong language, violence and sex scenes.

* * *

The air temperature of the Blue Mountains often dropped below freezing in the early mornings, even though the daytime temperature could be well over thirty. The colder air allowed sound to carry further, and on that morning, the normal sounds of pipping bellbirds and warbling magpies were disturbed by a regular, dull, slightly metallic scraping sound and heavy, controlled breathing. The grey dawn rapidly faded, replaced by dappled sun filtered by morning fog. The shovelling stopped and the man gathered his tools, walking away from the raised mound of dirt hidden amongst the ghost gums.

* * *

"Fuck, Jamie, pick up the phone." It was the sixth time Amber had tried Jamie's phone since the girls made it back to her house, and the sixth voice message she left, each message becoming more frantic than the last. "Jamie, where are you. Call me back as soon as you get this!"

It was close to five o'clock on a Saturday morning, and dawn had just broken across the city. The three girls sat in Amber's bedroom, whispering amongst themselves, trying to determine the best course of action. They had been home for over an hour, sneaking in quietly in the pre-dawn darkness after trudging the streets of inner Sydney looking for their friend.

"We have to tell your mum and dad," Jessica whispered in a panicked tone.

"They'll kill us! We weren't supposed to go into the city at all tonight!" Amber's defiant response, with the underlying fear of reprimand, belied the true urgency of the situation.

"Yeah, but we have to tell someone," Jess chewed nervously on a fingernail.

"Jamie's dad's gonna totally freak out." Lucy chimed in. She had been friends with Jamie for the longest and got on well with her parents, even after she changed schools.

"Maybe we can just call the cops," Amber shivered in the morning chill. "You know, anonymously. We don't know that anything has happened. She might have got sick of us and gone home."

"Try her phone again," Jess said, hopelessly.

It was Amber's parents who ended up calling both the police and the other girls' parents. Amber's mother overheard their agitated whispers and came in to find out why they were there and to make sure everything was okay. As it turned out, everything was definitely not okay.

* * *

"Yeah, so after we finished dinner we went into Newtown to try some of those cocktail bars." Amber, the most vocal of the three girls, was now providing a statement to Detective Inspector Andrew Campbell, head of homicide, a person well and truly too senior to be interviewing teenagers about their late night activities. After the initial reporting of missing persons, Jamie's parents, Victor and Frances, _strongly insisted_ the police _do more_ about their missing daughter; they felt that, as international diplomats, they had a right to more police resources than the general population; they were also thoroughly convinced foul play was involved. As they had put it, where else would she have gone? She wanted for nothing, her grades were good, and they hadn't restricted her from having a boyfriend; she simply wasn't interested in anyone romantically. She was keen to succeed in her HSC and get into medicine somewhere, preferably Sydney University. As a result of this unyielding pressure, at approximately 10:30am, some six and a half hours after the girls realised their friend was missing, Detective Inspector Andrew Campbell commenced the first of many conversations regarding the matter.

"Sorry," Andy interrupted. "It says here that you are…" He flipped through his notes for the girls' ages, "Seventeen. How did you intend on getting into the clubs?"

"Like, we have fake . You know. Some of our friends are, like, over-age, and we borrowed theirs." She rummaged through her handbag, looking for her identification card. "Here."

Andy took the card from her; Shawna Kelly, born 1997, the probationary drivers licence read. The photo on the licence only matched Amber in the vaguest of ways, due the girl's brunette hair and round face. He could understand why the bouncer would have let the girl in, but it was annoying these checks could be fooled in such an unsophisticated manner. "Right, OK. Go on then." He handed the card back to the girl, who was fidgeting nervously in her chair.

"Anyway, so, like, mum and dad dropped us off in Camperdown, and we had dinner there, then we got a cab to Newtown. We got into Mixology at around nine thirty, and we stayed there until about midnight, maybe? So, we were having a fun time but Lucy wanted to go into Kings street, so we left and we thought we might be able to catch the train, but we missed the last one so we had to walk to get the bus."

"Why didn't you catch a cab?"

"We were running a bit low on money, and we all have Opal cards." She shrugged like it made perfect sense to her. "It must have taken a long time to get there," she continued, "Because by the time we got there and found somewhere we wanted to go, they wouldn't let us in."

"That must have been after 1:30 am?" Andy commented. "That's a long time to get from Newtown to Kings St."

Amber shrugged again. "Like I said, public transport isn't great here, is it?" Andy made a noncommittal noise, acknowledging the statement, but neither refuting or agreeing with it.

"Jamie was still with you at this stage in time?"

"Yeah, she was just bitching how we shouldn't have left Mixology, or how we should have got a cab."

"When did you first notice she was gone?"

"Ummm…" She glanced around the office and played with her fingertips, trying to work that part of the night out. It was the first time she really paused in her narration of the evening; it seemed she was the most dominant of the group, and perhaps most of the night's activities were her idea. They were quite inebriated when they left Mixology, but the long walk sobered them a little, so Amber was able to recount their steps with a reasonable amount of clarity, considering the circumstances. "Maybe… after we turned down George St. to try get into Ivy? We started on Sussex and headed towards The Strand."

"So you were headed East."

"Yeah, like, East. And we must have been knocked back from like two or three places."

Andy checked his map. "The last place on King would be Le Pub if you tried to get in everywhere and you turned down George." He made a note. "When did you realise she wasn't with you?"

"Maybe halfway down Martin Place. Someone thought it would be a good idea to have a look." She giggled, and Andy winced slightly. She was clearly referring to the Lindt Café. Rubberneckers really hit a nerve with most police. "We were laughing and singing, and usually, Jamie wants to sing Abba really loud, but when she didn't, someone, I think Lucy, went to ask why. That was when we realised she was gone."

* * *

The interviews with the other two girls were much the same, with varying levels of exactness. Amber's parents had dropped the four of them off at Rowley's Rydges with the assumption they were having dinner, location chosen as due to the two rooms which were hired by the girls. They did not know the girls planned on going out clubbing afterwards. Andy discovered no rooms were booked for the girls at Rydges, and the assumption they were staying there was more misinformation through omission rather than straight out lying. When questioned about overnight bags and other associated paraphernalia, Amber's dad stated that he assumed the girls went to the hotel and checked in earlier and came home to get changed. The general holes in his story, whilst suspicious, did not suggest he was involved in foul play, however, more suggested he should pay more attention to his family. Amber's mother was not much better. Andy privately wondered if these people even had time for their daughter, or if she was some mere inconvenience, and he hoped he would always care about what was going on in Lina and the baby's lives.

Andy saw the group out of the station as the lunch rush subsided. Just in time for a late lunch, he ruefully thought as he headed back inside.

* * *

Gavin checked his phone, screen illuminating, no phone calls or messages. It was close to two in the morning, and he was trying to decide if he should leave the strip club or stay a bit longer. His girlfriend was interstate on a work conference, and she had left the brat with her ex. She claimed it was his weekend with the kid, but he secretly thought it was because she didn't trust him with the girl. She'd know if she ever gave him a chance. Stupid bitch. He spent all his cash earlier, and unsuccessfully tried to get one of the strippers to give him a hand job in a booth. He knew better than to try to make her do it, even though he knew he could, but he didn't want another belting from the bouncers that hung around the bar. He decided it was no fun sitting there with no lappies, almost sober, watching old broads flash their twats for money. He left and floated around the street for a while, aimlessly following random groups of people at a distance, until he spotted the four young girls, giggling loudly, stumbling about arm in arm, singing. He could hear occasional bursts of song drifting above his head. He followed them at a distance, watching their feet place unsteadily and their short skirts sporadically rise up the backs of their thighs. He followed them down King Street, watching them try to get into various pubs, bars, and nightclubs. He snorted a humourless chuckle as they even tried to get into a place that doubled as a brothel. Each time they were rejected, one of the girls shrieked and tried to slap at another. Same girl each time. He watched on, observing how after each rejection, this girl lagged further and further behind, and, after they turned left, he sped up so he was within touching distance of her. She turned left after her friends, and he followed, moving with her, pretending to check the ground for something he dropped as another group of late night revellers passed on the other side of the road. It was quiet now, the night broken only by the clopping of the high heels and his own heavy breathing. He moved up and spoke to her.

"Hi. What's a pretty girl like you doing out here so late at night?" She looked over at him, clearly startled by his appearance. Up until very recently, she had thought her only companions were her friends, the girls who had bitched at her after every ejection from every place they tried to get into, as if the lock out laws which she told them about before leaving Mixology were laws she formulated to ruin their fun.

"Ummm…." she vocalised, uncomfortable with the situation. She began to walk faster.

"Don't be scared, little girl," he said to her, speeding up to match her pace. "There's nothing to be scared of. How about I give you a lift somewhere?"

"How about you just fuck off, OK?" She sped up some more, not quite breaking out of a fast walk.

"Bitch!" He hissed at her. "You're all the same! Stupid fucking cunt!" He performed a quick sprint, lunging and grabbing her about the neck and head, clutching at her mouth to cut off any cry she might have tried to sound, before dragging her roughly into an alleyway they were just about to pass. "I'll teach you, cunt!" He growled into her ear. "I'll teach you for telling me to fuck off!" He was hard now after breathing her perfume, after feeling her soft skin under his calloused fingers. Panting heavily from the adrenaline rush, blood pounding in his eardrums and making his cock throb almost painfully in the confines of his jeans, he spun her around, grabbing her by the shoulders and jamming her up against the wall, hard enough for her head so snap back and thump up against the concrete behind them. "Are you happy now, bitch? What have you got to say now?"

"No," she squeaked, paralysed with fear, barely able to vocalise and push the word out.

"Do you want this?" He reached up with one hand under her skirt and roughly manipulated her through her panties, his other hand firmly gripping her about the throat, choking her slightly. "What was that? I can't hear you." He probed her deeper even as she tried to shake her head and tell him no, tell him to stop. "Yeah, I can feel it. You want it. You dirty little slut." He leered, leaning in and planting his mouth onto hers, forcing his tongue into her mouth as he ripped her panties off, groping into her, raping her with his fingers.

"Mmmmmmm… You're real tight, aren't you?" He grunted into her ear as he pushed his fingers in and out sharply before removing them to undo his pants. The sound of his belt buckle snapped her out of her stupor as she realised that he wasn't going to stop anytime soon.

"No!" she choked out, wriggling and fighting, scratching ineffectually at his jacket, trying to reach his face. He stopped wrestling with his jeans as he warded off her blows, angrily shaking her and telling her to stop it. He punched her in the face, hard, hard enough to break a cheekbone and cut his knuckles, before throwing her onto the ground. She hit the ground and stopped moving. "Look what you've gone and made me do now, you stupid cunt." He grunted, giving her prone body a swift kick to the ribs. She groaned, and he quickly undid his pants, took out his throbbing, erect cock, knelt between her legs and thrust in firmly and deeply, penetrating her repeatedly, brutalising her insides with his penis while he bit at her face and neck and brutalised her outside. He came with a growl, biting at her neck, imagining the beast inside him coming out at that moment, the feeling of excitement and power and glory overwhelming him for an instant before he came back to himself, the reality of what he was doing, kneeling in a dirty alleyway behind a dumpster in the early hours of a summer night having just raped a girl who he violently assaulted only minutes earlier.

"Look what you made me do," he whispered at her as he pulled his rapidly deflating cock out of her and stood, looking about in a bewildered fashion at her prone form on the ground with her legs sprawled open obscenely, cum leaking out of her. His cum leaking out of her. He started to weep. "Look what you've gone and made me do!" She groaned, stirring back into consciousness, and he rushed forward to help her sit up.

"It's ok." He whispered softly through his tears, more for his own benefit than hers.

Disoriented and in pain, she whimpered, trying to touch her face, trying to work out what happened to her, where she was, what she was doing there. She tried to talk, but she could only slur groaning sounds of pain. She looked at the man helping her, and her eyes flashed recognition, each piece of the puzzle clicking into place one by one. Petrified, she tensed her shoulders up and shook her head. "No," she slurred out.

"I didn't do it." Gavin said, reaching down to tuck himself away. "It wasn't me. I swear."

"No," she slurred again. "Was you." Every word was punctuated with pain. Her eyes locked with his. He knew what he had to do.

* * *

"What do we know about this girl?" Police Commissioner Peter Delaney and Detective Inspector Campbell were in a meeting room after the Commissioner spent over forty minutes on the phone assuring Mr. Latif, Malaysian consul, that NSW did indeed treat the matter seriously and were putting their best officers on the job.

"Seventeen, just finished her HSC, they have exams to go, of course, but she was probably going to finish top 10 at school. She attended North Sydney Girls High, a selective government school, but she socialised with girls from her previous high school. This was the first time they tried to pull something like this, according to her friends, and that's why they got caught out in the early hours of the morning." He took a breath, ready to tick off everything else they knew. "No boyfriend, good marks, mum and dad have money, Malaysian citizen. They've been in Sydney since she was eleven."

"Have we done a walk-through to verify the statements from the other girls?"

"We've got uniforms canvassing the area and checking for footage now."

"Andy, we need to be careful about this one. If word gets out that we didn't search thoroughly enough, the AG's going to be all over us. If the media finds out, it'll be painted as a hate crime. Are these people Muslims?"

"Yeah."

"Bloody great. As soon as that gets out, we're all going to be up Shit Creek."

Andy's phone rang just then. He looked at Peter, who motioned for him to take the call. "Karen. What have you found?" He frowned, and looked down at the table. "OK. Yep. I'm with him now. Yep. Yep. OK. Good work. Keep me informed." He ended the call and looked back up at Peter. "They found evidence of a struggle on one of the alleyways off George St. Some drag marks, evidence of blood and a pair of discarded underwear. We'll have to verify with DNA, but it looks like we might have a homicide on our hands."

* * *

Sitting in a meeting room with seven other people, Bianca flicked through the papers in the folder sitting in front of her while she listened to Detective Inspector Campbell from the front of the room. She gave no indication that she worked with him before, and raised an index finger and nodded in acknowledgement when Andy introduced her and explained her position, role and why the Feds were involved. Prior to this assignment, she was working as liaison to Interpol for the Australian Federal Police, and surveillance before that. Her notes held brief resumes for each of the officers in the room; she was the only federal officer; there was an equal match of men and women. The bulk of the taskforce were made up of NSW homicide staff, however, Senior Constable Danica Marks came from the sex crimes unit and Sergeant Kon Petrakis was from missing persons. They would utilise the existing internal homicide administration staff for all administrative issues.

The brief was simple enough; on the morning of the third of October, a schoolgirl went missing between King St. and George St. in Sydney's CBD. Upon canvassing the site the next day, evidence of struggle was found including drag marks, blood spatters and other DNA containing fluids. Two separate individuals were identified, a male and a female. The female DNA matched the samples provided by the missing girl's parents. Several weeks later, a dog walker stumbled across a shallow grave past Linden, and Mr. and Mrs. Latif positively identified the body as their daughter.

The girl died of suffocation; she had soil in her lungs and heavy bruising on her neck, including fingernail marks. Her cheek bone, eye socket and jaw were broken. Hairline fractures radiated from the back of her skull, and four ribs were broken. She had been sexually assaulted, with bruising on her pelvis, her vagina, and her inner thighs. The DNA swabs revealed a match between the fluids recovered from the alleyway and under her fingernails. There were 15 separate bite marks on her face, neck and breasts. None of the CCTV footage obtained from the area revealed any clues. Most of the cameras only showed the entrance to the venues; the security staff were been trained to deal with any unruly patrons beyond the watchful eye of Big Brother. The girl's father, a Malaysian national, and a Malaysian consul diplomat, was highly distressed that his only daughter had been brutalised and buried alive. He was waiting for her body to be released so they could take her home and put her to rest.

Bianca shut the file. It was a straight-forward case. The reason they had formed a taskforce was due to the high international profile of the victim's family; they needed to be seen doing something, even though a case like this would normally be handled within homicide. Andy mentioned to her that he didn't mind too much, as the additional funds took pressure off regular department expenditure while allowing him to recruit extra staff because his regular staff were assigned to this taskforce.

Andy stood in front of a large whiteboard, on which an autopsy photo, crime scene photos, and several maps of Sydney, both inner and outer suburbs, were been pinned. "As you can see we've canvassed the area and spoken to most of the witnesses to verify the girls' whereabouts that night. We can track them before Jamie went missing, and we can track them after, while they were looking for Jamie. They started here, at 1:38 am." He points to the intersection of King St and Sussex St. "And they headed East. There is about a 20 minute window that we can't track them, in this zone." He pointed to an area around George St on the map of Sydney's CBD. "Jamie went missing at this time. We can tell because we have some ATM footage of the girls walking along Martin Place, and it takes them about 45 mins to work out that their friend is missing. We have to see if we can work out who this perp is, if he's on any footage and basically find him. We'll be working out of HQ here, in Parramatta, we've got this room and the one next door, and we'll all be sharing space next door. Except me, I get to keep my office. Boss' prerogative. Desks have been installed, but you'll have to move your own stuff. Bianca will be working out of HQ while she's on this as well. She's been assigned to us full time, the rest of you will have to keep an eye out at your own departments as well, make sure that you're on top of anything that comes in. All assignments will have to be run through me, but we can't have Sydney's finest stop because of one homicide. While we don't have a timeframe, we don't have an open chequebook either, so let's get a move on. Any questions?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Keeping Secrets – Chapter 2 - "Reconnecting"**

Once again, big thank you to Duffie83 for checking my stuff.

* * *

Bianca gazed out at the spectacular waterfront view, enjoying the twinkling lights of the office buildings on the opposite shore. She could only see occasional reflected ripples of light on the water now the sun had well and truly set, and the floating doughnuts with BBQ's and revellers on them had moored with the sunset. It took a little while to work out what the round rubber dinghies were; odd little things bobbing about, complete with beach umbrellas perched on top. She had resorted to checking the web address when one floated close enough for her to read the bold logo branded across the side. Once she had worked out the concept, it did seem like an appealing way to spend an afternoon.

Janet wasn't kidding when she said she was going to try and impress her into liking seafood; the floor to ceiling wrap around windows allowed for a 360 degree view of the bay, and Sydney at night, was, if nothing else, amazing to look at.

The reason they were actually dining at such a grand establishment was due to a discovery Janet made earlier in the week; a revelation which Bianca hadn't been too keen to give up. Bianca didn't eat seafood. She didn't like the fishy smell, or the dry flaky texture and she felt unsophisticated and childish for saying so. Janet had made it clear on several occasions that she was a big fan of seared scallops, as well as baked salmon. Bianca conveniently couldn't come over for dinner due to work related matters the few times she discovered salmon was on the menu. There had been a moment of embarrassment when Janet finally managed to weasel it out of her, this odd culinary aversion of hers.

" _All fish or just some fish?" Janet asked, thoroughly amused at the situation. They were at Bianca's apartment, and Janet just caught on that Bianca had not actually stayed late after work but was just avoiding her cooking._

" _Ummm… I think all fish? You know, when you don't like something, you don't go out of your way to try different sorts of things you don't like," she snapped in an irritated fashion._

" _Shellfish? Crayfish? Just seafood or is freshwater stuff ok?" she pressed for more information._

" _What? There's a difference?" Bianca stood to find something else to occupy her attention. She went to the laundry hamper, sorting through it to determine if there was enough to put the machine on. Undeterred, Janet followed her through the house, helpfully handing her several laundry baskets for her to sort the clothes into. "If it lives in the water I don't want to eat it," she huffed._

" _That sounds rather Un-Australian. What about duck?" Janet teased. "You like duck."_

" _Ducks don't live in the water. They live near the water and, as a matter of fact, they don't even need enough water to swim in to survive. Just a little to drink and dip their bread into. Stop being difficult." Having found enough clothing to put a half load of washing on, Bianca continued on her mission. Doggedly, Janet tagged along behind her, waiting for her to finish the task. As Bianca went to push past Janet, who was partially blocking the doorway, her fingers were captured by Janet's and although she tried to keep moving, Janet prevented her from doing so, making her spin about so they were facing each other, linked by their intertwined fingers. A cheeky gleam lit Janet's eyes as she opened her mouth, ready to goad the other woman just a little bit more. "Don't you start! I don't like fish, OK?" Janet puckered her lips in an exaggerated fashion, trying to stop the grin that was threating to escape. She changed tactics._

" _When was the last time you even had fish?"_

 _Bianca huffed again, blowing a wisp of hair out of her eye, thinking back to the last time she had fish._

" _I was a kid. And it was fish and chips. And it was dry and nasty. My dad made me finish it, and the only way I could was by drowning it in tomato sauce."_

" _That's hardly fair then, is it? I mean, you haven't tried it again for over a quarter of a century."_

" _God Janet, don't say it like that. You make me feel ancient."_

" _Bub, I'm just stating the facts. How about you try it? For me?"_

 _Bianca frowned, ambivalent at the prospect._

" _I promise if nothing else, it will be a nice night."_

 _Bianca relented; as Janet assured her, even if she wasn't an instant seafood convert, they should both have a very pleasant evening, and a romantic dinner with Janet King was always an appealing prospect._

"How's work going? How long will you be in Parramatta for?"

Bianca shifted her gaze back to the woman sitting opposite her. She smiled and took the proffered hand, stroking Janet's fingers with her thumb.

"Andy hasn't put a timeframe on it, but I'm effectively on loan for six months. If they want me for longer than that then they have to reapply."

"Must be nice, working just around the corner from home," Janet commented.

Bianca shrugged.

"It's neither here nor there, really. I can't imagine that I'll spend a lot of time there…. And most days I'll be leaving from your place anyway. Unless you want to change the days up and come over to mine." She perked both eyebrows before waggling them. "Or we could reduce the number of weekly conjugal visits." Janet frowned at the banter, before a waiter interrupted them with the entrée.

"What's this?" Bianca couldn't quite work out what the dish was. The waiter went to answer, but Janet held up a finger and cut him off.

"Just try it first. I'll tell you after you've tried a bit."

The waiter smiled and left them to it. He had seen more than one couple play this game before.

By the end of the mains, Janet declared the evening a success; Bianca no longer detested seafood, they had a wonderful evening, and the night was still young. She decided to broach a subject that she had been thinking about for several months now; Bianca's clear independence resulted in Janet delaying the conversation; she was unsure about the progression of their relationship. Bianca never complained about picking up the children or finishing up earlier to help with them if she had to work late at the DPP; they spend most of their non-work hours together, however, she also did not give any indication that she wanted more. Janet took a large breath and took the plunge. "I'd like you to move in with me."

"Really?" Bianca asked, lighting up, pleased, a little incredulous as well. The smile diminished, and she shook her head, pursing her lips slightly, ready to say something before changing her mind and wetting her lips with her tongue instead. Janet leaned forward, her brows pinching in together, a stress line creasing her forehead.

"You don't want to." She said flatly, cursing herself for reading the situation incorrectly, for expecting Bianca to want to move in with her just like that. Maybe she liked the arrangement as it was. Maybe she wanted them both to shift, and relocate to a new address. "You don't have to. I'm happy to keep going as we are if you like," Janet scrambled, trying to recoup.

"It's not that I don't want to," Bianca confided. "It's a little sudden though, isn't it? I'm not sure the timing is right, with this job and everything. I don't know what Andy expects of me."

Janet leaned back in her chair and put her hands on the table, disappointment apparent. "You're right, of course," she breathed out, looking down at her hands.

"Hey," Bianca gently began, "I'm not saying no, I just want get used to the idea first. I had no idea you-"

"Why wouldn't I want you in my life permanently?" Janet pointed out. "An amazing, gorgeous woman, who I want to keep all to myself." Bianca smiled, pleased that Janet was showing her so much. "I'll admit that I didn't see that at the start, but…" she paused, and motioned vaguely, unwilling to mention Ash, and Bianca quickly glanced at her ring, before meeting Janet's eyes again. "Have a think about it. I would love for you to move in. The children would love to have you around more. Whenever you're ready. They ask for you when you're not there, you know." Janet looked hopeful. "I wont bring it up again. Ball's in your court." She reached for Bianca's hand and kissed her knuckles, smiling, making light of the situation. "Dessert?"

* * *

"Tony, hello, what are you doing here?" Bianca almost knocked Tony off his feet as she turned the corner, a cardboard box of files in her hands.

"Ah, Bianca, Janet told me you were based here now. The Latif matter? How are you? I've just been in a meeting with the Commissioner." Tony always looked like he was in a rush, and today was no exception. Bianca stood aside, offering space for him to pass. She didn't want to hold Janet's boss up. "After you," he motioned with his hand. "Peter was interrupted and he wasn't finished grilling me yet." Tony chuckled. "I was just going to get a coffee. Or a scotch." He rumbled the last bit under his breath. "Why don't you put the box down and we can walk and talk?" Bianca consented, quickly depositing the files on her desk before returning to Tony.

"Great to see you. You look fantastic. I haven't seen you, since…" Tony paused, opening a door for Bianca to walk through. "I can't remember when, but it's been several months, anyway." Bianca hadn't seen Tony since that disastrous day they almost lost the children, just over six months ago. The vision of Janet walking out of the RC building with the children was clear in her mind. She realised for the first time that Tony had hugged them in relief; first Janet and Emma, then Liam, before bundling them all into Janet's Audi and driving them away. Bianca had observed Janet's possessive nature on more than one occasion; she still didn't voluntarily allow Bianca to drive her car yet and when she did, it was out of necessity rather than choice. Bianca experienced a moment of clarity just then; she hadn't realised the depth of Janet and Tony's relationship before this.

They headed down to the coffee cart parked out the front of police HQ, and put their orders in before sitting at the provided tables, waiting for the barista to bring the coffees to them. "Tell me, what's been going on? I haven't seen the children in a while." He looked a little unhappy about that. Bianca knew a little about Tony and Janet's relationship. She suspected that Janet had opened up significantly with Tony after Ash's death, but she didn't know the full extent of it. Other than Deb and Janet's mum, she couldn't think of anyone else that knew Janet before the children. Their relationship was strictly in the now. She pinched up one side of her face, trying to work something out. The barista placed their coffees down on the table in front of them. She made up her mind, and stated. "Janet wants me to move in."

"Ray of sunshine. I knew it," Tony theorised softly under his breath.

"I want to get all my ducks lined up first," Bianca countered.

"That's why she's been in a mood," he grumbled. He looked at Bianca, and quickly followed up with, "Err… nothing."

Bianca waited, taking a sip of her coffee. Just a touch too hot. If only the rest of the country could work out their coffee like Melbourne could. She never thought she could be a coffee snob until she worked in Melbourne for a few years. She missed the friendly, weird place. "I'd like for us to have dinner on a regular basis."

"Us?" Tony motioned between the two of them in a confused fashion.

"Sort of. All of us. You. Me. Janet. The children."

Tony hummed, obviously pleased at the invitation, yet unwilling to seem too eager. "How regular?" he finally enquired. Bullseye. Bianca always got her man.

"Monthly, at least. Maybe once a fortnight, if your schedule can allow. I haven't checked this with Janet." She fiddled with her spoon, tapping it on the table, trying to work out if Janet would be offended that she was organising this. "Maybe once a month to start with. How about you come over mid-week? Do you have a day that suits? We could take it from there, make it a regular occurrence. Something that Janet wont find too suspicious."

Tony's eyes narrowed as he watched Bianca casually sip her latte. "You can never trust the police," he finally growled. "Almost as bad as lawyers."

* * *

Midweek, after dinner, after the twins _insisted_ Tony teach them a new song, Bianca and Tony sat on the couch, waiting for Janet to finish putting the children to bed. Bianca poured some brandy out for them all. "I can't understand how you lawyers continually drink like this." She chuckled as Tony took a deep draught of the Armagnac.

"Ahhhh…. This is better than that rubbish Janet usually keeps," he commented before taking a sip and allowing it to light a blaze down his gullet. "You were saying that they stay over at their Grandma's place every other weekend?"

Bianca nodded affirmatively.

"Yep, Janet drops them off Friday night and has dinner with them. She picks them up Sunday afternoon. If she can't do it I pick them up."

"Why don't you go together?"

Bianca shrugged noncommittally. "Sometimes I'm busy. The kids like being in the car with her. She needs time with her family; her support networks." Bianca fiddled with the brandy snifter. "She isolates herself unintentionally, especially when I'm about." Tony grunted, and she went on, swirling the brandy in her glass. "I'm not sure her mum likes me."

"Why would you think a thing like that?"

"She's a bit brusque." She finally took a sample of the brandy, wincing at the taste.

"She's like that with everyone," he grumbled. "Haven't you noticed how she interacts with Janet?"

"Well yes… but she's Janet's mum." Bianca snorted a brief humourless chuckle out. "Everyone's mum bosses them around like they're 12."

"True. But. Janet got her mannerisms from someone. She plays her cards close, Elvis does."

"Elvis?" Bianca looked confused, and a little offended.

"Arrggghhh…. It's what some people call her at work. Affectionately. They call her that affectionately. Elvis Presley? The King of rock and roll? Only because she's the best at what she does." He tilted his head up and rolled his eyes, trying to explain without offending anyone. "A play on words… You know; King; The King; Elvis?"

She finally nodded, putting him out of his misery. He growled at her, suddenly aware she had been stringing him along. "I've changed my mind. You coppers are worse than lawyers."

"Hey," Janet drawled at him from the top of the stairs. "I heard that. You're supposed to be playing nice. She descended down the stairs and over to Bianca, giving her a soft peck on the cheek as she took the proffered glass of brandy. "Mmmm. This is nice." She savoured a mouthful after scenting the liquid. "Did you bring this?" Bianca quirked a smile at her as Janet sat on the couch opposite the two of them.

"I honestly don't know how you drink this stuff." Bianca took another sniff of her glass, before gingerly trying it again. "The guy at the shop assured me that this was good. 'Fruity, and delicate,' he said. More like rocket fuel." She winced as her tastebuds ignited.

Ignoring her, Janet sternly intoned. "Tony, I assumed when I left you down here that you would be on your best behaviour. What have you been saying to her?"

Tony made spluttering noises in mock offence, before informing Janet that Bianca was the culprit who played dirty.

"Can we do this again?" Bianca interrupted the tête-à-tête Tony and Janet were having regarding the relative underhanded tactics that police may or may not use for coercion of unsuspecting parties. "When are you free?"

Tony pulled out his phone. "About 3 weeks from now. Is that a good time for you, Janet?"

She agreed it was, before they carried on with work related small talk. Bianca observed their interactions quietly, providing refills when required, trying to decide if she could drink her own or if she should tip it away. Eventually, Tony declared it was well past his bedtime and he should get going. After seeing Tony out, Janet returned to the kitchen where Bianca was putting the empty glasses into the dishwasher. She pinned the other woman up against the bench and whispered into her ear, "You're sneaky. I know what you're up to." Bianca smiled, moving her head a little so her ear touched Janet's lips. "Thank you. For setting this up." Janet pulled back and gave Bianca a gentle kiss before resting her head on Bianca's shoulder, leaning up against her and snuggling in close.

* * *

"Andy, I ran the DNA through our database, and it's come up with 2 more hits. One from 2013 and one from 2005. They came from cold case files – both girls were locals." Bianca and Andy were in the tea room. Bianca finally managed to catch up with Andy while he was making a coffee for himself. As both the head of homicide and the Latif Taskforce, he was a very busy man, incredibly difficult to grab hold of without either three days advanced notice or a meeting request. Bianca couldn't be bothered with either of those things.

"I remember the one from 2013. It was odd. We thought it was an opportunistic break and entry gone wrong." He scratched his head. "I think she was found by the husband with a power cord around her neck?"

"Yeah, that's the one. I'm pretty sure we're dealing with a serial killer here. The one from 2005 was a body dumped at the bottom of a forested slope – found by a bushwalker; it appeared that whoever did it parked at the top of the cliff, where there was a lookout, and either pushed or threw the body over the edge. Pretty strong guy to do that with a dead weight. Anyway, I think we should see if we can cross reference any characteristics of the three we've identified, either find commonalities to check for potential victims or see if we can identify some suspects." Bianca opened the fridge to see if there was anything worth eating in there. There wasn't, so she settled on an apple from the communal fruit bowl.

"That sounds like good work, Bianca. Do you think he is more an opportunist or a sexual predator?" Andy finished stirring his coffee, rinsed his spoon and put it back in the cutlery drawer.

"Initially I thought opportunist, but now, with these other two cases, I think predator." She examined the apple for blemishes and wax, peeled off the identification sticker and took a bite.

"I agree. Run Danica through what you've found. Lets see if we can pin down some suspects."

* * *

Bianca and Danica were going through the archived files they received earlier in the week from storage.

The case from 2005, Julie Cameron, a 19-year-old nursing student who lived in a shared house on campus, died from drowning. She had salt water in her lungs, and the timing suggested she may have been drowned somewhere in the Bay. The reports gave no other indication, besides the salt water in her lungs, that she had been swimming or near the beach. Swabs revealed recent sexual activity, and there was matching DNA under her nails. She had no other markings on her body indicating foul play, however, toxicity screens revealed that she had both alcohol and rohypnol in her system. It was likely a date rape scenario, although they were unable to confirm it with solid evidence.

In the 2013 case, Sarah Brennan, 29 years old, married with two children, aged 5 and 7 at the time. They were at school, and the woman was found by her husband, a tradesman who frequently popped home during the day. Their marriage was solid, and he was not a suspect. There were no signs of forced entry into the house, however, the woman did have significant assault wounds – heavy bruising to the face, hairline fractures to the back of the skull, and vaginal damage from the sexual assault. When the husband found her, she was unconscious, the power cord wrapped around her throat. She had stopped breathing after he had unwrapped the cord from around her neck, while he was waiting for the ambulance to arrive. She died en route to the hospital.

Danica pinned photos of the two victims on the board, writing their names under the photos. The only item Bianca could see linking the three victims was the DNA, and it was arguable that Julie Cameron potentially could have had consensual intercourse with the person responsible for the Latif case. Bianca went over the autopsy report for the Latif case again. Skin cells under her finger nails. Light bruising on her back, consistent with being slammed against the wall. The girl's shoes were scuffed badly, consistent with being dragged, or a struggle while being dragged. She shut her eyes, trying to imagine how it played out. The man would have to be reasonably strong to inflict such damage.

Danica turned around after pinning up the photos. "He never uses a weapon," she commented. Bianca agreed it was an interesting observation. Most violent rapists used a weapon of some sort to coerce compliance. Rapists known to their victims, however, did not. Rapists who knew their victims generally did not escalate the violence quite so much though. It was a little unusual, Bianca thought.

"There aren't any other real commonalities, though," Bianca countered. "Two strangulations and one drowning; there are different strangulation methods used. One victim was left in situ, one was dumped, one was buried. If we were to look through cold cases, what would we look for?" She frowned, tapping her finger on the table.

"What about physical characteristics?" Danica inquired. "Victims are different ages, Latif is olive complexion, brown hair, Julie was blonde, Sarah brunette, both Caucasian. Their body types are different. It seems more opportunistic than profiling."

The two women sat in silence for a while, contemplating the data in front of them. Bianca piped up, "Is there data in the cold cases outlining the two women's movements for about a month prior to their deaths?"

"I'll check it out and see what we can dig up."

* * *

Bianca's phone chimed, and she slowed her pedalling enough to check the caller ID. She tapped the accept call button and seated the headphones more firmly in her ear. "Hey. Everything OK?" She pedalled at the same pace, maintaining an elevated heart rate.

"I'm just leaving mum's now. I should be half an hour to forty five minutes, depending on traffic."

"Do you want to meet me at my place? I'm still at the gym. I should be there before you though, I'm almost finished."

"Yes, that sounds good. Have you eaten? Do you want me to pick something up for you?"

"No, that's fine, I grabbed something before I came. I'll meet you at home."

"OK, see you there." Janet hung up, and the phone beeped three times, signifying the end of the call. Bianca upped the intensity and dialled in another 10 minutes on the bike, having already completed the free weight component of her workout earlier. It was a routine they had almost worked out; after work on Friday night Bianca grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed to the gym while Janet drove the twins down the coast to her mother's place, before having dinner with them all then driving back up into town. They had almost worked out the timing, and Bianca's personal trainer sorted a program that fitted in well to the timeslot, including some stretching after the session. Janet appeared to be running a bit early today, so Bianca opted to shower at home.

"Hello?" Janet called into Bianca's apartment, not finding her in the kitchen or lounge room.

"I'm in the shower," Bianca replied. Janet went into the steamy bathroom and sat on the edge of the bathtub, waiting for her lover to finish up. "Can you pass me the towel?" Bianca turned the shower off and poked her hand out expectantly, waiting.

"I've seen it all before, you know," Janet purred, before placing the towel into her waiting hand. Bianca ignored her, quickly drying off and slipping into her t-shirt and trackies.

"Did you want to go out? I can change if you want to see a movie or something," Bianca asked, just before leaning down and giving her a light peck on the lips in greeting.

"No, I'm happy to stay in," Janet replied.

"How was the drive? Traffic not too bad?"

"No, I left a bit earlier today to try and avoid it. Last time was a nightmare. I think I got a good run today; that's why I got back so early. Mum almost didn't have tea ready."

"How is your mother, anyway? Doing well?"

"Well enough. She loves having the children over and seeing them every other weekend. I don't know if we can keep this up as they get older, though."

"Why's that?"

"What if they want to do Saturday sport or whatever?"

"We can revisit it as required. Your mum will understand and she'll roll with the punches. She raised you, didn't she?"

Janet hummed, agreeing that her mother must have done a reasonable job with her.

"Would you like a drink? Wine? Beer?" Bianca headed towards the kitchen, ever the gracious host.

"A cup of tea would be nice. I heard chamomile can help you sleep."

Bianca smirked. "Coming right up. Tell me how your week has been. What's Tony got you working on?"

"Oh, usual guff. More than the usual number of paedophiles and sex offenders, and drug trafficking is up. I've had several wanna-be Heisenberg's recently; those bloody American TV shows bring out the worst in some people; everyone thinks they can cook meth out of a caravan parked on the side of some farmer's paddock. I'm not sure which I prefer, the sex offenders or the meth heads."

Bianca didn't comment. Janet's query was more rhetorical more than anything else. As long as the investigative work was done thoroughly and well documented, Janet usually won her cases. It was highly unusual if she didn't. Janet rubbed the back of her neck.

"Are you getting one of your headaches again?" Bianca queried. She noticed early on that Janet's irritability would increase occasionally, and after some gentle probing, she found out that it was mainly due to tension headaches, which Janet medicated with over-the-counter analgesics. Janet nodded, her jaw knotted up as the steady pressure in her temples slowly increased. "Let me help." Bianca moved behind the seated woman, gliding her hands over her shoulders, her thumbs gently working into her neck and upper back, finding tension points and massaging them until they released. "Come to bed and lie down. I want to do the rest of your back." Janet agreed, as she knew Bianca's magic fingers could put her to sleep nicely and she would wake up, headache gone, as if it had never been there. She allowed Bianca to strip her before laying on her stomach. She closed her eyes as Bianca eased the tension out of her muscles. Before long her breathing had deepened and she was fast asleep. Bianca checked the clock. It was only 10pm, but she was ready for bed. She pulled the sheets up around her lover before leaving the bedroom to turn out the lights and brush her teeth before gently sliding in beside the sleeping woman.

 _She walked quickly down a dark alleyway, her heels clicking on the basalt pavers. She could hear heavy breathing behind her, but every time she stopped to check if there was someone there the breathing stopped. She continued, increasing the speed of her walking, unable to create distance between herself and the person behind her. As she broke into a sprint, she was knocked down. She fell, the breath knocked out of her, the sensation of falling remaining even though she was on the ground. She kicked out, and she began to float away, away from whomever was following her. That's it! She was escaping! But she was floating away too slowly. She kicked her feet harder, trying to drift higher. An iron manacle clamped down on her ankle, and she was dragged back down to the ground. A pair of leering red eyes appeared. "You think you're gonna get away, bitch?" a muscular shadow enquired. Her legs were forced open against her will and she screamed "No!" while kicking out and fighting the resistance against her legs._

" _Bianca!" the voice growled, and she was shaken violently, her bones rattling._

"Bianca! Wake up!"

She woke with a start, taking a big gasp or air, heart racing, pushing away from the restraining hand, bewildered and unable to focus.

"Bianca! It's Janet! It's ok. It's me!" Janet whispered urgently, firmly grasping her upper arm in the dark. Bianca focussed, her senses coming back to her.

"What?" She took another deep breath. "Janet. I'm sorry." She breathed out, before reaching for a reassuring hug. "I'm sorry I woke you," she murmured, her breathing evening out again as her pulse rate slowed. "Just another nightmare." She closed her eyes, drifting back to sleep in Janet's embrace. Janet watched her sleep for a while, unable to decide what may have caused Bianca to kick and thrash like that. She fell asleep without an answer.


	3. Chapter 3

**Keeping Secrets - Chapter 3 – "Moving Day"**

Once again, big thank you to Duffie83 for proof reading for me.

* * *

"Is that all you're taking?" Janet sceptically asked Bianca after spying the two suitcases and the single cardboard box sitting in the hallway. "I've taken more on holiday!" From the bathroom Bianca laughed. She was still packing some of her personal items.

"I'm renting this place out fully furnished; I told you that. I'm only bringing clothes, personal items and small electricals. This was also a good opportunity to clean out some of the old stuff, give it away to the Salvos," Bianca remarked, examining a label on a small bottle that she fished out of the corner of her cabinet.

Janet followed Bianca's voice and sat down on a stool in the bathroom, biting her lip anxiously, watching Bianca ruthlessly cull her toiletries.

"A lot of my stuff is already at yours; I do spend over half of my time over there, and frequent moves tend to do that to a person. Less stuff equals less stuff to move. There isn't anything you want from here is there?" Bianca had finished with the bathroom and was carrying her box to the front door. She gestured broadly at the living room, in the direction of her entertainment cabinet. Janet shook her head after carefully examining Bianca's CD and DVD rack. Bianca placed the box next to one of the suitcases and straightened up, stretching her back out a little before turning to Janet and continuing her commentary. "Besides, Evan's a pretty friendly kid, and if I need anything I can ask him for it."

Janet pursed her lips, unconvinced. Bianca's music collection was reasonable. Perhaps they should take some of the CD's.

Bianca strode over to the mantelpiece, picking up an ugly vase and weighing it carefully in her hand before replacing it. "Besides, my stuff doesn't exactly fit in with your décor, does it?"

Janet's brows knit together as she made a small stack of music on the floor. Bianca was right, of course. Her interior decorator had planned the décor of the living areas down to a T; she had even allowed him to set her bedroom out.

"I'm not leaving anything with sentimental value here, and all my personal items are coming with me, obviously. That leaves valuables; big items stay, small items only include jewellery. Anything that doesn't fit into those categories can get turfed."

"How did you get onto Evan again?" Janet changed the subject, slightly uncomfortable with the apparent ease at which Bianca was letting go of her life in this apartment.

"He's the interstate transfer into Homicide that Andy got. Young kid, about 23 or 24. He's moving up here from Melbourne, with his girlfriend."

Janet walked through the apartment, checking what Bianca was leaving behind. She was right, there was nothing personal there, and the items left behind wouldn't have fit in with the décor in her house. Janet felt a little guilty, upending Bianca like this. Janet had been unable to locate evidence of any previous romantic entanglements Bianca may have had; sometimes Bianca read like a blank slate. She put the thought out of her mind and tried to make herself helpful.

"Can I put any of this in the car?"

"Yeah, you can put the suitcases in. Leave the box for now, I might have to put some other stuff in it."

As Janet carried the first suitcase out to the car she wondered if Bianca had a secret cache of another life stashed away somewhere. She certainly did. After moving out of home and working overseas, she had lived in a dodgy share house with an art student and another solicitor. They had lived on instant noodles and baked beans, with donated furniture and whatever useful items they could find on hard rubbish day. When she and Ash first moved in together, they had each brought with them a meagre hodgepodge of items combined to make a household. She had brought the refrigerator, Ash brought the washer. They bought a bed together and received a television as a housewarming gift from Ash's mum and dad. They used bean bags for the longest time, until actual furniture became a priority. It wasn't until later, when they purchased their home that Ash began replacing items and really giving their home a makeover. After the shooting, Janet couldn't bear to live in the house without Ash, with constant reminders of her everywhere. She had sold it and purchased her current location, and arranged for interior decorators to furnish it. She still held a storage unit that only she and Tony knew about with a lot of the stuff from the old house, and almost everything she inherited from Ash. She didn't visit it; it still held far too many painful memories; memories she wasn't quite ready to let go of yet. She went back upstairs for Bianca's second suitcase, a wistful look on her face. Sometimes, jettisoning baggage was a lot harder than just throwing it overboard.

"Everything OK?" Bianca enquired, already heading downstairs with her box of goods.

"Umm. Yeah," Janet brightened up, forcing a smile before taking the box off her. "Ugh. Heavy. What have you got in here? Bricks?"

"Yeah. I have all my favourite bricks in there," Bianca countered. "Just put it in the car, ya dag." She went back up for the suitcase.

* * *

Janet sat on the edge of the bed, watching Bianca sort her clothes into neat piles, hanging some items and stacking others. Janet allocated half of the closet space for Bianca soon after they began dating, keenly anticipating the day she would want to move in. She never mentioned it to her lover, and she did not realize it until she and Bianca slept together the first time, but her immense sense of isolation at home was exacerbated by her coolness at work. She was not unmoved by dark side of human nature which she frequently saw at the DPP, and, without a light to guide her, she was starting to risk breaking apart on the chaos of humanity. Watching Bianca carefully put all her things away, she reflected on just how different the two women were.

" _Are you sure you haven't touched my keys? I put them down just here." Janet motioned to the kitchen table, where she put her keys and phone down the night before._

" _I don't go around moving your stuff just for fun, you know."_

" _You don't have that sense of humour," She murmured under her breath._

" _What was that?"_

" _Hmmm? I was just asking where the keys were, that's all." She rolled her eyes. Just great. Ash wasn't happy just losing her own stuff; she had to start misplacing other people's stuff as well. She almost regretted moving in with the woman. She was possibly the most disorganized person Janet ever met. Too bad she was so damn cute. She looked in all the places Ash liked to randomly place her things, before giving up and checking if there was anything better to eat in the fridge than last time she checked. Sitting on top of the margarine were her car keys. She sighed and pocketed them before calling out, "Found them."_

" _Oh, great. I bet they were exactly where you left them, right? I told you I didn't touch them."_

" _Hmmmmm…." She picked up her purse, and checked her watch. She was already running 5 minutes late. "I gotta go. See you later, OK?"_

It was nice though, watching someone bustling around the bedroom, getting organized.

"Hey where can I put the suitcases?" Bianca had quickly and efficiently put everything away, and had magicked the smaller case into the larger one.

"Kids room, top shelves. That's where I've put that sorta stuff."

Bianca took the case into the other room. At some stage in time she had changed into a sleeveless top. Janet never met anyone who owned so many singlets or sleeveless blouses. Not that she minded, she smirked as she watched Bianca's toned arms disappear with the rest of her into the hallway.

"OK, all done." Bianca leaned on the doorframe of the bedroom, smiling prettily at the woman seated on the bed. So this was going to be home now. It was too late for regrets; Evan was moving into her old apartment in a week's time; he was currently staying in a motel, and they had agreed that it would be mutually beneficial if she left most things behind; she had thrown out the perishables earlier in the week and organized the cleaner to do a final once-over mid week. It was probably a good idea, moving in with Janet. She did give convincing arguments, and it wasn't too much trouble getting into a new routine, despite what she told her lover. The lack of off street parking annoyed her, and breaking her gym contract had been a nightmare, but she eventually managed a transfer to Camperdown, so that was fine. She knew from the police grapevine that Janet moved soon after what happened with Ash, but she didn't know how much of the old furniture came with Janet. She didn't want to ask; Janet had never probed into her past, and as their relationship progressed, Ash's status subtly changed in Bianca's mind from Janet's partner to her own rival, one that she could never best. She didn't like the jealous streak that threatened to break free, and had always hidden it carefully away from Janet. She hoped this feeling would go away with time, but for now, she was wary of it, always alert that it might rear it's ugly head and she might lash out harshly. Bianca supposed she now occupied that position; Janet's partner. _"She wouldn't have wanted me to move in otherwise, would she?"_ Bianca thought to herself. They hadn't been to any engagements yet, work or otherwise, where introductions were required; their forays into social life didn't involve any body but the two of them. She wondered where she was situated with the kids.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Janet probed, breaking Bianca's chain of thought.

"And a dollar to act them out, hey?" She retorted, making Janet laugh.

"I've never heard that one before." Janet smiled at Bianca's quick response, and scrambled for one of her own. "Cheap show!"

"Are you implying my thoughts are worthless?" Bianca threatened jokingly.

"Never." Janet went to Bianca, her arms wrapping about the other woman's waist, her lips seeking her lover's, caressing them gently, before capturing them within her own and flicking her tongue out, stroking Bianca's bottom lip, gently pushing against her, softly seeking entrance. Bianca moaned, parting her lips ever so slightly, making her lover work for it. Janet leaned backwards subtly, applying gentle pressure to Bianca's back with her hands, both leading and guiding the other woman towards the bed, not allowing contact to be broken. Bianca resisted subtly, wanting Janet to really _work._ Bianca felt an electric surge of passion through her and her breathing hitched at the same time that her nipples crinkled up, goosebumps raising on her arms, suddenly aware of all the places she could feel her lover's caress, the pressure on the small of her back, the brush of their legs every step they took together. Janet finally made contact with the bed, and she moved her hands so she was gently tugging at Bianca's blouse as she lowered herself onto the bed. Bianca smiled and bit her lip as she followed Janet down. She couldn't think of a better way to spend an afternoon.

* * *

The doorbell chimed, and Bianca could hear children screaming and footsteps approaching over polished floorboards. The door opened, and Janet's mother's smiling face peered out at her.

"Ah, hello. You're early. Bianca, right?"

"Mum, you've met Bianca before. Stop pretending you can't remember her name," Janet chided, sidestepping past Bianca and giving her mum a peck on the cheek in greeting before entering the house. "Come on," she called over her shoulder. Grace shooed her in, bustling behind her.

"All moved in already?" In the background Emma squealed, keen to show her mother the puzzle they had been working on. The squeal turned into a scream. Apparently Liam thought Emma was receiving too much of mum's attention.

"Yeah, a lot of my things were over at Janet's already. I didn't have too much to move."

"I am so pleased you finally agreed to move in with my daughter." Bianca only just managed to stop herself from gawking.

"I could tell. Janet was getting all irritated, even though she would never admit it. Let me show you something." Grace hurried into the study. Bianca followed. "Here it is. Emma drew it." She brandished an A3 sheet of paper with four stick figures on it. Two large figures and two small figures. A yellow sun in the corner and they were all standing on grass. Grace pointed to one of the large stick figures. "That's you." Stunned, Bianca took the drawing. It was a reasonable likeness, as far as stick figure drawings go. Correct hair colour, big smile… and a shiny police badge. Bianca had never showed hers to them. She looked at Grace, meaning to ask _how_ , when Grace explained, "They asked me what you did at work. I had to explain what police do. They seemed excited with the badges and uniforms. Emergency workers feature a lot in various children's shows as well." Bianca gave the drawing back to Grace, who filed it away carefully. "I'd offer for you to keep it, but I think you already have access to the artist." Bianca agreed, turning her head to try make out the words to match Janet's stern tone. "Don't worry about her. She was a screamy child as well." Bianca suppressed a snort, managing to turn it into a cough. She was trying to imagine Janet as a little kid, screaming for people's attention, bossing everyone about. She wasn't able to suppress the snort that came out after that particular thought.

"Mum, where are their hats?" Janet called from further in the house.

"I better go help Janet get ready. You both coming early has certainly ruffled my feathers!" Grace brushed past Bianca in a businesslike fashion. Bianca wandered through to the lounge where everyone was now gathered, and the kids realized that she was there as well.

"Beee-Yaaankkkk-aaaaaaaaaaa!" She was tackled from both sides around the knees.

"Stop that! I've told both of you not to do that!" Janet admonished in her sternest 'mum' voice, and Bianca squatted down, looking each of them in the eye.

"Mind your mum, and, if you ask nicely,"

"Nicely!" came two loud echoes.

"C'mon," she said softly to them. "We've discussed this. I've seen both of you do nice." They quieted down immediately, and Grace and Janet shared a look. "Like I said. If you are both good," she eyed each child for a length of time, "and you ask you mother nicely," she arched a brow, "she might let you have ice cream." They wriggled, trying to contain their excitement. Bianca stood, and gestured to the couch. They both ran around the coffee table and planted their bottoms, sitting upright, as if waiting for her next command.

* * *

"Are you sure you don't have a secret stash of children hidden away somewhere?" Janet sampled the ice cream they'd bought. Bianca had settled for a juice, and the children had both scoffed theirs as soon as they got them and were racing around on the play ground. "Wanna bite?" Janet offered her cone to Bianca, who shook her head and waggled the bottle of juice. "Honestly, what was that earlier? You've got them trained!"

"They're good kids. I just provide recommendations on how I'd prefer them to act, as opposed to telling them not to do stuff after they've done it. That's all. Carrot before stick." She pulled her mouth down slightly, suppressing a smile. The two of them really didn't need to be discussing the merits of deterrence verses punishment. She paused, and frowned slightly. "Janet, you don't mind…" She glanced towards the children, who were running about like lunatics after their sugar rush. "That I…"

"Of course not. I love that you're involved. I'm bloody impressed with how you handle them, actually. Tony thinks they're little monsters, and I wish they would use their words more, but you…" She made whipping motions with her hand.

Bianca chuckled, before becoming serious. She leaned over, deadpan, and whispered, "I just tell them if they're naughty, I'll shoot them."

Janet's eyes widened, and she pulled back trying to read her lover. She finally laughed, and swatted Bianca on the arm.

"And you wonder where they get those ideas from," Bianca responded playfully, before taking a sip of her juice to divert attention away from herself. She gestured towards Emma, who was about to climb out of the playground area, and Janet quickly ran over to stop the errant child.

" _I hope this focaccia's ok." John commented before taking a bite. Bianca sipped on her cappuccino, watching the children play in the park. The morning dew glistened on the sunshine, zones of frost still present where the sun hadn't kissed it yet._

" _I'm sorry about last night." Bianca started._

" _It's OK," he interrupted. "I get it. I knew what I was getting into with you." He smiled ruefully. "Look, I wanted to have a talk to you about something. Something serious." He paused while she took another sip of coffee. He took another bite of his sandwich. Chicken and avocado, with sun dried tomatoes. The tang of the tomatoes overpowered the sandwich, and the ratio yeasty thick focaccia to filling was disproportionate. He put the sandwich down and picked up his coffee instead. "You remember I put my hand up for that position in the France, right?" He continued when she nodded. "Well… I got a response last week. They want me there. I start in a month." He gazed across the oval, watching some people jog by. "Ummm…. I'm going to leave in the next two weeks."_

 _Stunned, Bianca gawked at him. "That's a bit sudden. I didn't think you were serious when you talked about going over there." She frowned, chewing the inside of her cheek. She had been reluctant to let him sleep over, let alone embark on a journey across the world with him. "You know I won't come with you, right?"_

 _He nodded. "I know you're keen to build your career," he stated sadly. "You said that when we got together. Among other things." He sighed, putting his coffee down before taking her coffee and putting it beside his own. "I thought we could make this work. I guess we have different goals." He took her hands in his. "I'm sorry Bianca. It's not you. It's not me. Our lives. They were meant to take different paths. I just don't think we are right for each other." He let go of her hands. It was Bianca's turn to smile sadly._

" _We had some fun times, though, didn't we?"_

" _Sure did."_

 _They moved against the picnic table, so they were side to side, leaning against it so that there was minimal both were silent for a while. Bianca watched the children play on the equipment, and John vacantly stared into the distance._

" _How long will you be gone for? Will you come back?"_

" _I'm not sure. I'd like to try and get residency. The work here's a bit shit." He glanced down at his sandwich. "What could I say to you to get you to come with me?"_

" _John, you know I'd like to build a career here." The other words were left unsaid._

" _Yeah. I know. Save the world and all that. I guess this is goodbye then." He turned towards her again. "If I write, will you write back?"_

" _I'll try John," she put her hand on his elbow. "I really will."_

 _He took a cigarette out, checked the direction of the wind and lit it, taking a deep drag before laughing. "Yeah, I know you will babe. I just know that you'll probably be too busy to actually do it." He sighed and took another drag. "I guess this is it then?" Bianca checked her watch and nodded._

" _I'm pretty tired. These night shifts are a bit rough. Is there anything you want from my place?"_

 _He shook his head. "Nah, I only have a toothbrush there. Oh, here." He reached into his pocket and withdrew a key, before handing it to her. She nodded, taking it and putting it on her key ring before working his key off and handing it to him._

 _They shared an awkward hug._

" _Who's dropping you at the airport?"_

" _My mum and dad will be seeing me off." There was more silence, and they hugged again. There was nothing much else to say._

" _Goodbye John."_

" _Goodbye Bianca. Good luck. With everything."_

Janet reached Emma just as the girl was on the edge of escape; by the time she plucked the child off the fence, Liam was threatening to launch himself off the top of the fort in his best Superman impersonation before one of the other women intervened, bringing him down and returning him to his mother. Amused, Bianca finished off her juice and put the empty bottle on the wood beside her. She leaned back on the bench, her elbows resting on the picnic table and watched Janet chat with the woman who stopped Liam from testing his ability to fly. Yes, she finally decided, it was time, and this was the right decision. It was time to settle down.


	4. Chapter 4

**Keeping Secrets - Chapter 4 – "CCTV"**

Once again, big thank you to Duffie83 for proof reading for me.

Reader discretion applies - Some sex scenes.

* * *

Bianca sat beside Kon, notepad on the table in front of her, watching the grainy black and grey CCTV footage on a 32" flat screen LCD wall mounted TV. Some footage was smooth and clear; clear enough that facial features, tattoos and jewellery were easily identifiable, and other footage was jumpy, grainy or pixellated and difficult to watch, either due to outdated technology or reduced frame captures per second to keep file size down. All of it was bone achingly boring. Both of them sighed, and Bianca re positioned herself in her seat, trying to find a more comfortable position.

"They never show you this bit in the pamphlets," Kon mumbled, reaching over and skipping to the next video on his computer, which was connected up to the TV. "I feel stupid saying this, but what are we even looking for?" Bianca ignored him. She had discovered the hard way that rhetorical questions were often disguised as, well, _stupid_ questions, and didn't reflect on the person asking the question, and was more often than not just vocalised internal dialogue. This was the second time they had been through the footage, and most of the revellers seemed innocuous enough. There just weren't any clear links between any of the patrons on the footage and the girls – no one clearly following them, no one stopping them to talk to them, no general harassment. There were a few guys that tried to get into the same clubs as the girls, but that wasn't enough to ring any alarm bells. Considering the hour, the location and the age of the girls, it was surprising they hadn't been able to nail the guy already. The preliminary investigations outlined in their briefing folders tracked the girls in and out of the clubs and gave them a basic timeframe, as it was easy to spot them due to the fact that there weren't too many groups of young girls floating around on Kings Street anymore, but no other leads.

"We went through the ATM footage didn't we? I don't remember looking at it," Bianca asked, stretching her back out and rolling her shoulders.

"You don't remember looking at it because we don't have it yet. The banks had a bit of a cry about it and their IT guys aren't forwarding it until later in the week. They didn't ask for it in the preliminaries. In the meantime, we get to go through this again."

Bianca tried to massage her trapezius muscles and up her neck, where some knots felt like they had developed. Hopefully she could ease the tension later that night with a really hot shower. "Do any of them have any footage from inside the clubs we can check?" Bianca asked, standing up to stretch her legs. "Do you want to take a break?" she clearly wanted to take one.

"Yeah… hang on, in a sec. I've got some of the DVD's from the club security from that night," he brought up a spreadsheet on his computer to see what footage he had. "It should have other info on it. Let me compile it and I'll call you. I want to cross check with the venues to see if there is any missing that I should get chased up as well."

Bianca nodded along with the plan and left him to collate and file the videos, taking the opportunity to move around the office and make a fresh cup of tea. She stared out the window of the tea room, sipping the hot beverage and staring blankly at the office building across the road, eyes unseeing, allowing the tea to sooth her soul. _Why rape and kill a girl?_ Bianca pondered, watching a lone cloud drift lazily to the west. She took another sip of tea. _Because you're a desperate sad sack of a person._ _Opportunistic, probably. Because she was there. Because he could. Surely you couldn't plan this out could you?_ Bianca took her tea and went back to see Kon.

"Hey, do we have any surveillance footage from Camperdown and Newtown?" He shook his head.

"If I compile a list of times and places, can you either get it or organise to get it?" He nodded affirmatively. "I want to track the girls all the way from when they were dropped off that night until after they discover Latif is missing. Get all the footage you can in the general area from that night." Kon's eyes widened a little at the amount of data Bianca was requesting, imagining the nightmare going through the hours of brain numbing footage.

"We'll have to go back and get footage from each suburb as we process it." Kon frowned and drew a line, and then overlapping circles along it, showing how each zone would have to be searched before getting more footage from the next street. "I guess we can. It's what this taskforce was formed for," he continued in a daunted manner.

"Great. I'll shoot you an email outlining what we need." She turned on her heel and went to leave the room.

"Bianca," he called after her. "Which is more important? Do you want me to finish sorting the footage inside the clubs first or do you want me to chase your list when you get it to me?"

"Do my list. I've got a hunch and I want to rule it out first. Get some of the other guys to help if you need to; there are eight of us on the team after all." She turned on her heel and stalked out of the room, irritated at the resistance she was getting.

* * *

"I can't believe that he had the nerve to tell me I was past it." Janet and Tony were having a laugh at the naivety of the new batch of junior solicitors they received in their graduate intake at the start of the year; Janet was forced to grill a Crownie because of tardiness and lack of preparation, and his smart-arse replies were still rankling her. "Youth now days. Every year they seem to get younger. I think I've seen just about every excuse these kids think of. If nothing else, a bit of originality would be nice." She continued, "Tony, are these the best the state government can get?"

"It's the best the state government can afford; you know we're under budgetary constraints and a lot of the really sharp ones go into corporate and finance, chasing the big bucks. The good ones that want to do criminal are snapped up by the big privateers; that leaves us with the dregs of lawyer society and the ones who have an agenda. Although we know those are few and far between." Tony stood up to help Bianca put some dishes away, leaving Janet to brood at her lack of useful junior solicitor situation.

"So what's this case that your Crownie stuffed up?" Bianca inquired, taking the plates off Tony and putting them away in a cupboard.

"It was a relatively simple case; couple of kids out at night, altercation, our victim was a bit of a larrikin and somehow upset this other kid, who waited for him outside, followed him down the street and clobbered him when his mates weren't watching. He was in a coma for several weeks before dying. We had evidence and the law behind us to convict; our young solicitor managed to mix up a heap of the facts, leaving Janet in the firing line in court. She managed to ask for an adjournment for two weeks, but the damage may already be done," he cleared his throat, making a harrumph sound.

"Do you choose these solicitors?" Bianca asked. She had never had a direct line to the head Prosecutions before. It was both interesting and different to her usual dealings with the law.

"We interview them through a panel; the senior crowns are all involved at some stage or other; reviewing CV's or actual interviews. When they're fresh like that they are all rubbish," he grumbled.

"Did either of you want a nightcap?" already knowing the answer, Bianca went to retrieve the brandy they both so admired, before making herself a liquorice tea. She waited until her drink was ready before bringing Tony and Janet their digestifs.

"I distinctly remember saying this one was useless," Janet announced, clearly not done talking about her useless helper solicitor. "Good marks, but unable to apply himself. He's forgetful, Tony. I don't think he wants to be there half the time. He spent three quarters of yesterday tracking the tides to see if he could go wind surfing for goodness sakes! He's got his head in the sky, constantly daydreaming, and he leaves the office on time after promising to get work done. At least the other Crownies have the common sense to take it home with them!"

"Leaving on time isn't a crime, Janet" Bianca chastised gently.

"If you want to be a lawyer, you pay the price. There are costs to most careers; sacrifices to be made; we have to work long hours, that's our price. You have terrible shifts and have to be on call. I know, I get he wants to have it all; who doesn't? He doesn't want to pay his dues though. I don't want him working with me again, Tony."

"Now Janet," Tony cautioned, "You have to play nice with the children sometimes. I'll move him off this case, but if I can't get anyone else to help you, you might be stuck with him." They continued on with the case, bickering about which junior solicitor she would prefer, moaning that the solicitors were a major cause of failed trials. Bianca faded out, thinking about her own case.

 _If we could find someone following the group of girls… when would they have started? Not from dinner. Surely it would be from within that club in Newtown. We should get the footage from there. Unless they were followed during their walk? Maybe an opportunist followed them from somewhere. A bum? Unusual. A cabbie? Possible. Could have seen them, parked up the cab and followed them. Why wait until King Street if they tailed the girls for that long? Plenty of time to do the damage earlier._ She gazed into her tea, not focussing on anything, faintly aware of Tony and Janet talking in the background, and the scent of liquorice floating up her nostrils. _Maybe he didn't follow them. Then he would have to have been in the area, leaving. Could be an employee or a patron. The key will be in the footage. The hours and hours of footage._ She morosely took a sip of the tea, dreading watching more surveillance videos. She had transferred out of surveillance for this exact reason; she was over videos; after a while all the videos begin to look the same, it wore you down, and it became hard to focus on the detail. She put the tea down abruptly, frustration evident. Tony and Janet stopped talking, looking at her. She ignored them. Perhaps they should look at the cold cases first. She took a shuddering deep breath before yawning loudly. The commissioner might be displeased if they didn't investigate the Latif case properly first, considering it was the Latif taskforce. Bianca yawned again. It was time to go to sleep.

* * *

"Are you okay in there, babe?"

Bianca was standing in the shower, vaguely watching rivulets of water join up and trickle down the glass of the shower stall. She woke before her alarm, and had quietly crawled out of bed while Janet was still asleep, silently padding to the shower to try wash away her weariness. She hadn't heard Janet softly call her the first time, and only mumbled acknowledgement of the question the second time Janet asked. Janet slipped into the shower beside Bianca, testing the temperature of the water with her fingers as she stroked over the other woman's lower back.

"Why is the water so hot?" she asked.

"Feels nice," Bianca mumbled. Janet reached around Bianca's waist, avoiding the hot spray, and kissed her on the shoulder. Bianca turned to face the other woman, bending and twisting slightly for the tap so she could turn the heat down. She watched Janet's eyes, taking in her steely sky blue before grasping her hips and pulling her into the spray, softly kissing her mouth and pressing her body against Janet's. She sighed, allowing her eyes to drift closed as she deepened the kiss, parting her lips so Janet's tongue could press in and probe her mouth, their tongues wrestling, tasting, exploring. Bianca stroked her fingers up Janet's side and caressed Janet's breast, before breaking the kiss and croaking "I'm sorry." She captured the other woman's lips in her own again, her fingers manipulating Janet's nipple before tracing down her abdomen. Her breathing hitched as she shifted her body, pushing Janet up against the wall firmly but gently, grinding her hips slowly but urgently against Janet's thigh. Responding to Bianca's rapidly increasing need, Janet broke the kiss and stroked up Bianca's inner thigh, parting the water where it cascaded down her body, before nudging her lower lips apart with her fingers.

"Don't be," Janet finally responded. Bianca was slippery with desire, so Janet stroked her folds, gently manipulating the woman, rubbing her while watching her reactions. Their eyes locked and Bianca slowly gyrated her hips, undulating them back and forth, setting her desired rhythm while kneading Janet's bottom with one hand and her breast with her other. Janet leaned forward again, kissing the other woman as she slipped a finger inside her lover, grinding the heel of her palm over her clit, searching for the zone that built Bianca up and tipped her over the edge quickly. Bianca moaned into Janet's mouth at the invasion, her eyes closing for a brief moment as she luxuriated in the water needling into her skin, the taste of her lover's mouth, the fingers moving inside her. She finally surrendered to the feelings as her eyes fluttered shut, allowing Janet to massage her to orgasm under the shower before kneeling and reciprocating with her tongue. It was lucky that they were up early that morning; they barely got the children to kindergarten on time as it was.

* * *

A new map adorned the wall beside the project whiteboard; one tracking the girl's movements as far as practicable from Camperdown to Kings Cross. Kon, Detective Sergeant Elliot Boxall and Detective Senior Constable Karen Liu had spent considerable time painstakingly constructing a map to show the path travelled by the group; after scouring hours and hours of ATM and CCTV footage from dozens of sources covering the missing hour and a half, going back and forth with surveillance, walking potential routes taken, doorknocking shops and boutiques looking for potential clues, they had managed to piece together a walking route which accurately showed confirmed sightings with times, locations and still images at each site. The footage also managed to contradict Bianca's hunch that the perpetrator was following the girls. Bianca ensured a ten-minute window of the ATM footage was checked before and after each confirmed sighting of the group; most of the footage either showed empty streets or passing cars. Bianca also insisted they retrieve cab GPS data from active vehicles in the 2 hour window that the girls were walking; when plotted, it was clear that there was no irregular activity from the taxis and it would have been impossible for any of the drivers to commit any crime in the area. No one followed the girls that night. It was still possible the perpetrator knew them, but more likely that it was an opportunistic attack. It was time to try and narrow down some suspects from the footage on King Street.

"I've compiled all the internal CCTV that I was able to get my hands on," Kon patted a box filled with CDs DVDs and hard drives. "Unfortunately it's from about 5pm until 2am, assuming this fella didn't spend the whole day there, and would only begin behaving badly later in the night. We pick up footage of the other girls at Martin Place at 2:03 am, so I think it's safe to assume that our perp is no longer inside any of these clubs at two. So the down side is we have seven hours of footage… per venue… and thirteen venues who were so kind as to provide us with their surveillance." Bianca blinked. Almost a hundred hours of footage to go through on top of the hours of outside footage. She looked at Kon again. She didn't think she would get away with palming this one off to the state police. She took a breath and gave her instructions.

"Well, lets split it up and we can each go through it and see if we can find any irregularities. Remember we're looking for basic anti-social behaviour… anything that doesn't feel right. Once we identify this we can see if we can link it to the group of girls." Bianca finished with a frown. Just another glamorous day, saving the world. _I'm going to need coffee if I plan on getting through this,_ Bianca thought before heading outside to see if the coffee cart was still there. It was going to be a long few days.

* * *

"Can't sleep?" Janet asked softly from a few steps behind Bianca, who was sitting on the couch watching a terrible late night shopping channel that was hocking an odd chicken rotisserie device with the sound turned right down. With a tired smile, she twisted around to face the other woman.

"You'd think I'd be sick of watching the TV," she commented. Janet came around and sat on the couch beside her, tucking one leg under the other, facing her lover.

"I woke up and you were gone. I was expecting you to be there, considering you live here now." She reached over and brushed an errant strand of hair off Bianca's face.

"Yeah, sorry. I was just tossing and turning and I didn't want to wake you. I know you've got that thing tomorrow." Bianca glanced at her watch.

"The date's been postponed – two more days. I can almost sleep in now." A weary smile graced her lips. "It never occurred to me how unsettling it can be to roll over and expect someone to be there, only to find them gone. I think I know how Ash felt now."

Bianca blinked with both eyes, keeping them closed for longer than normal, disguising it as fatigue before opening them again. She shuffled towards Janet, shifting so she was positioned under Janet's other leg, tugging on it a little to get more comfortable before leaning over and resting her forehead on the juncture of Janet's neck and shoulder. She sighed and closed her eyes again. She felt so tired.

Janet wrapped her arms about Bianca's shoulders and leaned her head over to rest on Bianca's. "Do you want to tell me about it?" she asked.

Bianca grunted unintelligibly and shook her head, before mumbling, "There's nothing to tell. We haven't managed to get anywhere. Just hours and hours of surveillance footage."

"Why are you watching this rubbish then? You can't really be in the market for a chicken roaster."

"There was a Bambillo before."

"Please tell me you didn't buy anything from the T.V."

"OK. I didn't buy anything from the T.V."

Janet sighed, before beginning to slowly stroke Bianca's back. Bianca was clearly in a mood, and the contact between them was making Janet feel better. They stayed like that for a while, in silence, Janet stroking Bianca's back, until Janet's leg fell asleep and Bianca's breathing evened out. Janet eased her leg out from underneath herself and put her foot on the floor, wiggling her toes until the pins and needles disappeared and her leg felt normal again. She slowly shifted her other leg off Bianca's lap, before increasing the pace and pressure of her stroking. Bianca roused slightly, enough for Janet to tug on her hand and ask her to come to bed. Grumbling, Bianca turned the TV off and made her way upstairs; she allowed Janet to help strip off her clothes before she climbed into bed and promptly fell asleep.

* * *

It had eventually taken them three days to go through the footage from inside all of the clubs and bars; another day and a half each to swap data and sweep for irregularities between their assessments; two additional days to cross-reference with external and ATM footage. After scouring the data, the taskforce identified four targets; the targets were identified due to their aggressive, anti-social behaviour, combined with them venturing into the CCTV black spot right at the time of the Latif girl's disappearance. Their first target, a large, muscular fellow with tattoos on his arms had tried to follow a girl into the bathroom, whereupon a staff member had intervened and forcefully ejected the man after a violent scuffle. They were able to track this man travelling in the same direction as the girls, however, he passed several of the surveillance points close to ten minutes after the girls did.

The second suspect left with a group of people; Kon had identified him due to his leaving the group and tracking up and down the strip for a length of time between 1:40 and 2:10am, before disappearing. He looked in his early twenties, mid length hair, scruffy clothing.

A third fellow was first identified on Martin Place; he was travelling towards King Street, and his path should have crossed with the girls in the surveillance blackspot area. Bianca had tracked the final suspect from 10:30pm until 1:50pm; he had started the evening at a strip club before being thrown out; Bianca tracked him into a pub, then from the pub to a nightclub, before tracking him following the girls; he was their strongest lead by far; the footage showed him following the girls from one end of the Cross to the other, waiting in line behind them, leaving as soon as they were rejected from each venue.

With the four suspects identified, new photos now adorned the map on the wall; the four men, names and identities unknown. It was time for the taskforce to track these guys down.

* * *

"So none of the security have any idea who these guys are?" Andy wasn't impressed or convinced that this was true. "You went back with the stills?"

"Elliot and Karen went. I also got them to ask about knock-off times of the staff to make sure we were after the right person; knock-off for all these joints is about four in the morning – lock out at 1:30, last drinks at three, about half and hour to an hour to clean up before they're allowed to go. Noone had any staff leave early; bouncers and security can pretty much leave after they've booted everyone out, which only takes about fifteen minutes, if that. No, it was definitely a patron, not a staff member."

"Where does this leave us then? The Commissioner won't be happy that we have come up with a dead end."

"We can still look more closely at those cold cases; we have the DNA link, so if we can find him through the cold cases, it still counts. Technically we are still working on the Latif case." Danica's been going over the files we got when we got the DNA matches."

"Yeah, Ok. This is moving more and more into sex crime territory. Get Danica on those cases, see if she can see a link. See if she's managed to come up with anything after looking for these last few weeks."

* * *

"You're the resident expert on sex crimes; Andy thinks we need to chase that avenue more. If we sink out teeth into the Cameron and Brennan cases, we may be able to progress the Latif case as well." Bianca placed the first box of files on Danica's desk. "How far have you gotten? The old case is only about ten years old, the other ones only two years. It probably shouldn't even be in with the cold cases." Bianca picked up the top manila folder, opening it and absently thumbing through it. It seemed the DPP wasn't the only government department with severe budgetary constraints. She saw it less with the Federal Police; the bean counters obviously thought some crimes were more important than others. She was glad she was raised in Canberra; starting her career there meant she went straight into the feds, and she didn't really have to deal with departmental finance problems, and allowed them to chase and investigate most crimes to their conclusion without fear of being shut down prematurely. "How do you think we should approach it? How do you think we should start?"

"Well, besides the sex, we should look at it like any other crime. Let's go back to basics and consider them like homicides to start with. If we look at it like we have a drowning and a break and enter gone wrong…"

Bianca interrupted. "There were no signs of forced entry."

"Yeah, OK. Ummm… if we look at it as a violent assault, what have we got?" Daniaca asked herself, going over to the whiteboard to examine the autopsy photos. "I think after going through the physical evidence that we have, crime scene photos and whatever; we should check the witness statements and see if we can glean any clues from those. We can ask for more forensics to be done, ten years isn't that long ago, and maybe we will revisit some of the witnesses to get clarification from them if we need it."

"That's a good plan; it's probably where I would have started as well. Let's hold off from re-interviewing witnesses unless we absolutely have to. I'm reluctant to get them to relive trauma, especially considering we aren't technically investigating the deaths of their loved ones." Bianca went to her desk to pick up the second cold case box. "I'll get Elliot and Karen to look over it as well. They'll be more open to investigating if we present it as homicide." Bianca knew some cops got squeamish when a sex factor was added into a crime, and as a result, the quality of work dropped. "What were these originally classified as?"

Danica flicked through the file in front of her. "No designation on the Cameron case, there are some notes in here suggesting death by misadventure. Brennan case…" she flicked over some more pages, before answering Bianca. "Flicked back and forth between homicide, armed robbery and sexual offences before being filed into cold cases." Bianca winced at the carelessness of it all. Sarah Brennan was someone's wife. Someone's daughter. Someone's mother. She wondered if she should ask Andy about it; after all someone had died, so it was a homicide matter. In the end, she decided it wasn't worth agitating Andy about it; if they uncovered any new information in an organic manner then it wouldn't be seen as stepping on toes, and Andy may have a case to try to increase his budget. It also meant the inter-departmentary hornets' nest wouldn't be stirred up and they could stay friends; they were, after all, on the same team and she did spend significant time in New South Wales now; a friend high up in the state force sometimes really helped grease wheels, and some things just weren't worth fighting over.


	5. Chapter 5

**Keeping Secrets - Chapter 5 – "Lagging Behind"**

Big thank you to Duffie83 for reading, editing, and reviewing.

* * *

"I have all the files and site walkthrough videos here Bianca," Elliot patted the top of a stack of boxes piled next to his desk. The top box was slightly higher than his shoulder when he was seated. "We're going to start with the Cameron case; both cases are challenging, but this one is older, so we figure we should start with this one." Elliot had already begun pinning photos and timelines for the Cameron case on the wall behind his desk; now there were two walls in their makeshift office that had stuff plastered all over it.

"Is Karen going through the Brennan files?" Bianca asked.

"No, she's going to go through Cameron with me. We thought Danica might like to continue with Brennan." In the background, Danica nodded in agreement.

"What's Kon working on?" Bianca went over to Kon's desk, where there was a Post-it note stuck on his computer screen. She plucked it off and read it.

 _"Temporarily back Missing Persons. On Mobile if U need."_

"Bugger. Let's get Sam to help us out on Brennan. Do you two need additional help?" she pointed to Elliot and Karen, who both shook their heads. "Can one of you call Sam in to help then?"

"Yeah, I'll do it." Danica stood, ready to find Senior Constable Samantha Taylor, who was still working in homicide two floors down.

"Good. Keep me up to speed on your progress. I want to be across both of these cases; I'm going to go have a chat with forensics to see if we missed anything with Latif."

* * *

After a rather uneventful drive from Parramatta to Hawkesbury, Bianca was having an unnecessarily technical chat with James Pilcher, a scientist that performed most of the analysis on the evidence collected from the Latif case. He walked Bianca backwards from the autopsy, including the physical evidence of struggle, rape and eventual cause of death. He had taken the time to demonstrate and explain the strength required to render someone unconscious by deprivation of oxygen; the force required to overpower someone fighting for their life; the violence with which the man had raped her.

"Do you have the crime scene photos from the grave site?" she asked him.

"They should be in with the report we provided. Didn't you receive them?"

"We did; I just haven't had a chance to go through the report in detail; I've got some of the other officers looking into it. I thought I'd ask you about it seeing as I'm already here; just to get a better understanding of what's happened." Bianca turned on her charm. "I really appreciate the time you're spending with me. Having someone to ask makes it clearer than just reading a report," she shot him a cheeky grin. "I was also hoping you could help me out with some of the other cases that we've discovered links to."

He relented and went over to his computer, bringing up the case and connecting his screen to the big screen so they didn't both have to hunch over his laptop. "Here's the crime scene photos… hold on, here's the video." He cued the footage up to play. "You can look at the photos in your own time, but we generally don't give the crime scene footage to you guys; we know you aren't going to look at it, so we just take stills of the good stuff." Bianca gave him a sideways look. Some of these scientists needed to get out more. "There," he pressed play, and they both stood back to watch the police video of them unearthing the shallow grave.

"How deep was it?"

"Deep enough," he commented, before pausing the footage and bringing up the report on his laptop. "It was… around 60cm, dug in sandy clay before terminating in weathered sandstone." He made circles with his mouse around the photo below the text in the report and Bianca moved closer to the screen to look at the rock.

"That looks like it would be pretty hard going trying to dig that," she commented absently. "Do you have time of death?"

He scrolled further down the report, looking for the relevant section. "Here. Around seven am, give or take half an hour or so."

"So… it's about an hour or so to get there, if he was carrying her to the grave site from the carpark, that's about a twenty minute walk normally… so let's double it because he's loaded… that makes it four or four thirty… how long would it take someone to die of suffocation in a grave like this?"

"Well, she was in pretty bad shape before going in there. So if she received medical attention she'd still be touch and go. Seeing as she got buried alive, I reckon maybe an hour or so before she died," he mused. "It's not an exact science, of course, but it's enough to stand up in court, and we do use industry standards and scientific methods of course."

"Ok. So assuming she's a fighter, she would have had to have been dropped into the grave between five and six in the morning… That's some fast digging. Bloody hell! Half and hour to an hour and a half to dig a grave," she checked her notes for the dimensions of the hole, before looking at James for clarification. He scrolled back up to the appropriate section, before saying.

"185cm long by 68cm wide by about 60cm deep."

"That seems really fast digging," Bianca commented. She took some notes before motioning for James to continue playing the crime scene video. "Was there anything else of note?"

"Not really. We got some fragments of soil from elsewhere caught in her clothes, which is a little unusual. Lucky we're a teaching establishment, because it means we get a lot of the students to do mundane tasks – we took some soil samples from the site, and we found some clay caught under her blouse and clumped on her skin. This stuff didn't match the soil in the local area. As a matter of fact, it doesn't match any soil in the greater Sydney area."

Bianca made more notes in her book. "Do you know where it came from?"

"No, we don't have a database for that. If you find additional samples, we can compare and verify that it is the same, but we aren't able to tell you where it came from." Bianca nodded in acknowledgement.

"Ok, that sounds good. So nothing else exciting or outstanding about this case?"

"No, pretty standard stuff, really."

"Right. Can I ask you about another case?"

James checked his watch before nodding. He was enjoying the interaction with Bianca. Cops hardly ever came to chat with him, usually they just called and demanded he hurry up with results.

"OK, one was from 2013 and one was from 2005." Bianca flicked to another page in her notebook and showed him the case numbers. He nodded, pulling up the files on his computer and quickly reading through them.

"Yeah, we moved mid last year, so we'll have a fun time trying to chase up the physicals for you if you want retests or whatever; it's doable, but with costs associated, and you probably won't make friends asking for it." Bianca smiled, quirked a brow, tilted her head and shrugged.

"If it needs doing it needs doing," she responded.

He nodded. "OK, your Brennan case was pretty basic; we have DNA, fingerprints and we have damage in the house consistent with a struggle, that's about it. No leads, you've linked DNA to the three cases, that's about it. I'll bring the crime scene footage up." The footage didn't shed any light on the case; the bedroom with a broken lamp, bloody power cord on the bed, some upended furniture. Bianca frowned and tapped her pen on her notepad. "From a forensic point of view I can see why this case was closed." Bianca hummed tonelessly under her breath.

"Ok, but what about the Cameron case?"

"That one is slightly more complicated." He went through the files, looking for the crime scene video, before frowning and cursing. Bianca waited patiently for him to explain what was upsetting him so much. "Nothing's been digitised. All I can give you is the file, but you should have the original tapes and photos from the archives. I'm guessing you requested those, right?" Bianca nodded affirmatively. He scrolled through the file, before opening the computer file with the information in it. "Yep. We were still using film in 2005. All I can do is go through the forensics on file, and we can discuss the report, but if you want the crime scene video, you gotta go through that archive box." He opened the forensic report again. "So… cause of death is drowning, but she was found dumped behind a farmer's paddock in a National Park. Here." He brought up the map. Behind a farmer's paddock was a bit of a stretch. It would have to be a fifteen minute drive at least, Bianca thought.

"I think the report mentions that she was drowned in the Bay?" Bianca queried.

"Yeah, here it is," he scrolled down, looking for the reference. "Water was tested for salts and TDSs. That's solid particles. Water was 30,000 ppm. Pretty conclusive."

"Can you test where the water came from?"

"Not really. It's the same as the soil… maybe a bit less precise, I guess. Only salt water or brackish water or fresh, depending on salinity." Bianca nodded in understanding. He continued. "Her tox screen came back positive for rohypnol and alcohol, and she swabbed positive for semen. Nothing under the nails, no damage to the body, abnormal bruising or other injuries. Just a regular kid."

"OK," Bianca started making some notes and writing some questions in her notebook. "You can't specify where she may have drowned. It seems a bit odd that she took a roofie, had a shag and went for a swim… although if she had a roofie and then went for a swim it could explain why she drowned." Bianca made a note to check if her family or friends knew if she was a strong swimmer or not. "How is it that you could still swab for DNA after she went for a swim?"

"You're assuming she went for a swim. It doesn't say that she did that anywhere in our report." James scrolled up and down, looking for references to swimming. He tried a keyword search, looking for anything that could be interpreted as swimming. "Nope. The closest we get is death by misadventure. Whatever that misadventure is." Frustrated, Bianca blew a strand of hair out of her eyes.

"Was there any sand on her body?"

James checked the report again, using 'sand' in the keyword search. "Nope."

"How much alcohol in her system?"

"Ahhhh… minimal amounts. Low blood alcohol level. Not much food in her stomach, either." Bianca took some more notes, before closing her notebook, then looked up at James and smiled.

"So you reckon those tapes will be in the boxes we got from Archive?"

"Yeah, along with the photos. The negatives might be in there, might not. I'd recommend you don't lose the photos, because they might be the only copies that we have." Bianca nodded, thanked the man for his time and left.

* * *

"Danica, how are you going with the Cameron case? Have you gone through the videos yet?" Bianca just returned from Hawkesbury and wanted to progress her chain of thought as much as possible.

Danica looked up from the report she was reading and shook her head. "Uhhh, sorry, no, haven't looked at the tapes yet."

Bianca continued on, "Do you want to give them to me? I just want to have a quick look at something."

Danica rustled through the box and handed Bianca a VHS tape. "Here you go."

Bianca took the tape from Danica before asking "Did you manage to get movements from both women for the month leading up to the deaths?"

Danica shook her head. "I haven't had a chance to - I've been a bit snowed under with some of the paedo cases we've got coming in," she said by way of apology. "We haven't had a video player since I was a little kid," she commented. Bianca took the tape from her without saying anything, turning on her heel and heading to the AV room, where she knew a tape player was still located.

The video and the crime scene photos didn't provide any insights on what happened with Julie. Bianca took the case files off Danica and started to carefully go through the witness statements and check for clues to Julie's character. Julie was a typical university student living on campus. She went to the pub nearly every other night, according to her fellow residents; however, her parents said she was always a quiet, caring girl, who wasn't too keen to socialise, and was more focused on her pets and study. Bianca flicked through the files to see if there was a reference to what pets she might have had. There was an old photo of Julie and her mother, standing in a living room. Bianca turned the photo over, checking for notes on location. No such luck. There was a fluorescent date on the bottom corner of the photo, suggesting the girl would have been thirteen when the photo was taken. Bianca peered closely at it, looking at the décor in the room. A half of a mid sized fish tank was located in the corner of the room. Bianca made a note on a post it, before putting all the files back in the folder. Sam wasn't at her desk, so Bianca added another item to the Post-it before sticking it on Sam's screen.

* * *

"See Liam? You have to use the tweezers to pull the bone out without touching the side," Bianca demonstrated, before handing the tweezers to the boy.

BZZZZZZZZ.

Emma's tweezers touched the side of the rib bone, and she made a frustrated sound. "Don't worry, just keep trying," Bianca encouraged.

Keys jangled in the door and Janet called "Hello?" into the house.

"Muummmmyyy!" two voices called, before they ran over to greet their mother, 'Operation' abandoned for now. Bianca followed them, checking her watch.

"Rough day? I've got some pasta ready to go – I made the sauce on the weekend and it's already been reheated – I wasn't sure what time you were coming home. You should call if you're going to be too late," she admonished, going over to put the spaghetti on.

"Operation?" Janet asked, as the kids went back to playing the game while Bianca was sorting dinner out. She went over to the coffee table where Bianca had set it up, watching her children take turns in plucking a bone out of the patient. "I had this game as a kid," she commented.

"Look closer," Bianca called from the kitchen.

"No. You didn't!"

Bianca laughed. "I did. She just gave it to me the other week. Just cracked it out today."

Janet sat on the couch and watched the children play. "They're so calm. Did you do something to them?" Just as she said that, Liam grabbed at Emma's tweezers in frustration causing her to scream for her mother, complaining about her brother. "Liam, stop it. Give them back to Emma. Don't fight!" In the kitchen, Bianca raised both eyebrows and suppressed a smile, amused. She checked the pasta, and decided that it was close enough to al dente to call everyone over.

"Dinner's ready!" she called out. "Janet, did you want to get changed first?" Janet went upstairs to put her things away and Bianca called the children over to help mix some salad and set the table.

* * *

"Yeah, the super was still there from 2005. He remembers that Julie Cameron had a fish tank in her room, because he had to help her parents move it. He was really upset about the whole thing. Understandable, of course." Sam caught Bianca as she came in after lunch. She had successfully followed up the Post-it that Bianca had left on her desk, finally happy that there was some direction for her to chase up, something that didn't involve asking questions about sex.

"Good work, Sam." Bianca paused at Sam's desk, thinking. "Oh, can you find out how long it would take to dig that hole the Latif girl was found in? Use the tool marks you found as a reference for tools to use. I want to know how long it would take a standard sized bloke to dig it and then fill it in. Get some contractors if you don't have anyone who wants to spend a day out in Linden digging holes." Sam took a note of this, nodding. It wasn't something she would have thought to do herself, and she wasn't sure what Bianca thought she would achieve by finding this information out, but she made a note nonetheless. "After you do that you can try and track down Julie Cameron's movements leading up to the murder? Say about a month prior?" She turned around to Karen who was closely examining something on her computer screen. "Karen." The woman looked up expectantly. "You too." Karen gave Bianca a blank look. "Both of you. I want you to paint me a picture of what these women were doing in the month leading up to their deaths. Were they planning holidays? Did they have any romantic engagements? What days were they working, were they socialising, who did they socialise with? You know, all the normal stuff. I want a full work up of their lives. I want to know them as people. I want to be able to track them as if they were my best friends. If I asked what Julie was doing on a Thursday night, I want you to be able to tell me what she was doing, how she was getting there, who she was doing it with, if she met anyone on the way there. Everything."

"Cameron and Brennan, you mean?" Sam clarified.

"Yeah. I don't think we need to for the Latif girl. At least not yet," Bianca replied.

"We might have to speak to some of the witnesses again. They won't be happy about it," Elliot commented. He had just entered the room.

"Do what you gotta do. Consider the cold cases re-opened. Let's nail this bastard."

* * *

"Here's the info that the homicide crew were able to generate for us; it's still incomplete, but they've given us preliminary info, and I want you to go through it and see if you can determine if there are any movements that might be of note for an opportunistic sexual predator." Bianca handed a file to Danica. "Add it to your own report, the one you've generated with Sam." Danica looked a little uncomfortable as she flicked through the file Bianca just handed her. "I'll email a link to it to you as well, but in the meantime just work with the hardcopy. There are a few meetings I have to attend this afternoon with the Feds, I'll be out of the office today, maybe tomorrow as well. Any issues give me a call or text. Keep Andy in the loop, but run it through me first." Danica nodded and Bianca collected her stuff before rushing off to meet her colleagues at the AFP.

"All business, isn't she?" Elliot commented.

"Definitely no nonsense and thorough. A bit scary. I wish I worked under her normally. She's hot," Danica replied. Elliot twisted his head around to look at her, eyeballing her to see if she was being serious. There was a reason homicide thought sex crimes were weird.

"However you look at it mate, I think you'd be punching well above your weight," he finally said. Danica didn't respond.

* * *

The warm, humid, heavily chlorinated air was making Bianca drowsy, even as the squeals and screams of the children pierced the air.

"So part of me wants to have all these photos of the twins swimming and playing so that we can look at them later, you know, when they're older, and we can see how far they've come. Maybe when they're Olympic champions or whatever, we can show these photos of them in floaties and really embarrass them." Janet was watching the kids splashing about and learning to breath and stroke at the same time. When she realised Bianca wasn't actually listening to her, she nudged the woman. "Hey. Where'd you go?" Bianca's focus clarified out of the hazy grey she had allowed herself to fall into, trying to remember what her lover was saying to her before. She couldn't even recall Janet talking to her.

"Sorry. Just thinking about work. You were saying?" she prompted the other woman to repeat herself. It took all her concentration to pay attention; her mind kept wanting to drift to the cases at work, and how Danica was underperforming compared to the homicide crew. It wasn't really her job to mentor these kids, and she didn't think Danica would be able to cut it in the federal police; she probably wouldn't be able to cope with state homicide. Maybe she should spend a bit of time with her to try and help her along. "Just use a digital camera instead of your phone," she told Janet. "Unless you upload those no-one will be able to get hold of them, unless the camera or memory chip gets physically stolen. Keep em off your machine and pop em on a USB, plug that bad boy into your computer when you want to look at them, or just get prints, old school." Janet nodded at this sage advice. "I mean, the world doesn't need to see our kids." Bianca stopped talking and froze. It was the first time she had suggested any possession of the children, and it was completely unintentional. The drowsiness she felt at the pool had lulled her in to a foggy state and it had just kind of slipped out.

"Awww… Bub." Janet reached over to Bianca and pulled her into a hug, before kissing her above the ear and smoothing her hair back, and kissing her again. She smiled and touched her head with Bianca's, before glaring at a parent that was gawking at her display of affection. A small chuckle escaped Bianca as she relaxed into the hug; they sat like that until the swimming lesson was finished.


	6. Chapter 6

**Keeping Secrets - Chapter 6 - "The Christmas Party"**

Once again, big thank you to Duffie83 for proof reading for me.

* * *

The cold case files, opened and scattered across Andy's desk where Bianca left them, now sat ignored as Andy and Bianca gestured broadly above them. Bianca explained both her hypothesis and her findings regarding the first victim's death. Andy had listened carefully, both impressed and annoyed at the same time at her hypothesis that the location of death based on the coroner's report was wrong. Impressed that Bianca was able to progress a case that was over 10 years old, and annoyed that NSW police weren't able to come up with similar answers themselves. He could see why Janet requested Bianca for the RC; if she was this thorough the first time their paths crossed, Bianca would definitely have made an impression on the prosecutor. He didn't know why Bianca could be bothered with surveillance and Interpol; she could do so much more in trafficking or drug squad. He'd be more than willing to have her permanently in his department, if only he could convince her to jump ship.

Bianca continued, "We've also highlighted four persons of interest from the CCTV footage Kon was able to get ahold of. We don't have names yet, and I'm sure there is some other stuff that has either been deleted or is being withheld from us unintentionally, but I reckon that we have seventy-five to eighty-five percent of it, and that gives us a really good starting point. We went through all the victims' movements from the weeks prior to their murders; nothing really stands out. If you don't mind, I'd prefer to keep working on this over Christmas? I've got a bit of momentum going and I'd like to flesh out some ideas I have and do the groundwork behind it so we can start chasing them in the New Year. It would be really good to hit the ground running."

"That sounds like a pretty good plan. It will be a skeleton crew in here over the Christmas New Year Break; I'm going to take my break this year. It will be a good opportunity to get the baby's room finalised." Andy beamed, clearly excited by the prospect. "My sister's checking if she has any baby stuff left over, but her kids are almost teenagers now, so I'm not holding my breath. If we get the room sorted, we can start looking for stuff."

"Bit late isn't it? Isn't Lina eight months already? Do you know what you're having?" Bianca asked.

"We've been busy. You know what it's like. Besides, it's not too late, we still have a month. And no, Lina doesn't want to know. I'm not fussed, as long as it's healthy and Lina's healthy, I'll be happy."

"Hey… I should find out what Janet's done with the twins' stuff," Bianca mused. "It's not stashed around the house that I can see, but she might have it packed away somewhere. I can ask her where it is and if you guys can have it if you're interested? I'm actually a little surprised she hasn't already offered it to Lina."

"Yeah, that'd be good! Lina hasn't said anything but that doesn't mean much," Andy shrugged. He wasn't certain Lina discussed it with Janet. "Oh, by the way, are you coming to the DPP end-of-year breakup tonight?"

"I wasn't invited," Bianca smirked. "I think Janet prefers to keep me hidden away, a secret live-in nanny." Andy gave her a quick sideways look which Bianca missed. She continued, "Or maybe they don't invite police?"

"Nah, they generally invite the cops that they've worked closely with that year, defence lawyers, judges, some of those court reporters..." Andy flapped his hand in a dismissive fashion, no longer interested in listing other invitees to the DPP Christmas party. He checked his watch and started cleaning the files off his desk. "Did you bring lunch? Wanna go grab something? Pub? I don't know about you but I have a big case of can't be fucked today."

"Yeah. Pub fare could be a goer." They made their way out of Andy's office into the corridor.

"Commercial?"

"Yeah, all right. Hang on two secs." As they passed the open plan area that was the Latif Taskforce, Bianca went over to her desk and pulled some cash out of her wallet. She paused and had a think, before extracting two cards out as well. She rushed back out into the corridor where Andy was waiting. Danica looked up from her desk, watching her sweep past. "Lets go."

They walked down to the pub, chatting about potential baby names and enjoying the pleasant Sydney sunshine. It was a warm day, not hot enough for them to raise a sweat on their stroll, barely a breeze to speak of.

"Should be nice this summer," Andy commented. "Not wet like the last few years. It's finally starting to pick up now. I heard they were thinking of raising the dam walls."

"About time. We should really think harder about our infrastructure needs; I think Brisbane is the only place that's done significant investment over the last several years." A comfortable silence settled between the two of them, and before long they were seated beside an open window overlooking the rail lines, a beer in hand, patiently awaiting their meals.

"Hey," Andy said suddenly, making Bianca tear her eyes from the cricket test match that was on the TV. She looked at him, pursing her lips inquisitively. "We should crash their party. You could come as my date." His eyes twinkled in amusement, keen to surprise Lina with his presence.

"I don't know if that's a good idea…"

"You're right! It's not a good idea," Andy exclaimed, cutting her off. "It's a fucking _GREAT_ idea!"

* * *

"I'm off. Have a good break!" Kon was leaving the office, and Elliot and Danica were in the process of packing up, ready to leave their desks neat and tidy for the next year. Bianca glanced at the clock on the wall. Barely four o'clock. She knew the main reason for the tidy up was to avoid doing work. She could hardly blame them, she'd done it before as well. Some of the guys cracked beers about half an hour ago, although she had declined. She was thumbing through Julie's case file, trying to think of a link to the identified suspects. She drummed her fingers against the file, humming softly and tunelessly. She wondered how they were going to identify the suspects identified in the grainy photographs pinned on the whiteboard. She closed the file and looked up at the stills taken from the CCTV footage. Something tickled in the back of her brain.

"What are you doing over Christmas?" Danica called over to her. She looked over from the whiteboard to Danica.

"I think I might see if I can keep going here. You?" Bianca closed the file, swivelling her chair over and giving Danica her full attention.

"I'm going to be having Christmas lunch with my parents. Standard. I think my brothers might want to go clubbing between Christmas and New Year. New Year's Eve party as well." She chewed nervously on her bottom lip. "If you want I can come in and help you?"

"It won't be necessary, but you can if you like. I'm happy working by myself. I just wanted to get my head sorted." She tapped the fingertips on her right hand onto her thumb, one finger after another, index to pinkie, over and over again. Danica looked like she wasn't quite ready to go.

"If you'd like some help…" Danica trailed off.

"Well, if you want, you can come in earlier in the New Year and I can run you through where I've got to."

Danica perked right up at the offer. "Yeah, I think I'd like that. Do… You want to come have a drink with us?" She fidgeted nervously.

Bianca tried to remember what she knew about Senior Constable Marks. It wasn't that much, just that she was young. The question about the photos from earlier tickled the back of Bianca's brain again.

"No, thank you for the offer. I've already made plans for tonight." Bianca politely declined without expanding on her plans. "Oh, who are you going to your New Year's Eve party with?"

"My younger brother. I'm going to show him a fun time."

"A safe fun time I hope."

"Oh, yeah. He just turned eighteen about six months ago. Good kid. I don't want him to be getting into drugs and whatnot." Another tickle, stronger this time.

"When you go out, do they check both your IDs?" Bianca inquired. It had been several years since she had been asked for identification. She'd find it pretty flattering if they did now.

"Of course. I know I look a little young. I am still under twenty five and my friends think I look under twenty one. I had a boyfriend that got asked all the time. Some of the clubs used to take a photograph of his licence. He was Indian, and I'm sure they were profiling him." She flashed a bright smile, clearly not too disturbed about being frequently targeted for identification. "Ok, well, I'm going now. Have a nice Christmas, see you in the New Year!" Bianca waved goodbye to her before picking up a pen and tapping it on the desk. She was now alone in the converted meeting room, as the last three members of the taskforce had just left, and the other three were already on leave. Quickly, she made a list of all the clubs on the strip that they identified suspects from, and highlighted the ones which had yielded viable surveillance footage. She kicked off from the chair, taking her list with her.

"Andy," she called at the same time she knocked, barging into his office. He had his feet up on the desk and was throwing balls of crumpled up paper into the waste paper basket. He grinned at her.

"Are you ready to go?"

He clearly was.

"Andy, it's only 4:15."

"Well it starts at five," he said defensively, "and we have to get across town and fight the traffic. You want to get a park, don't you?" He brought his feet off the desk and sat upright, feeling a little foolish for goofing off. He was, after all, still the head of homicide, even if there was only 45 minutes left in the working year.

She moved towards his desk, putting her sheet of paper down. "You know, we _are_ crashing this thing, so it doesn't matter if we are on time or not."

Andy pouted at her like a petulant child being asked to get ready for bed.

"And it's always better to be fashionably late," Bianca finished up. She sat down on his visitor chair.

"Yeah, fine. OK," he conceded, trying to recall his brain from its holiday. "What's up?"

"Did you know night clubs sometimes take copies of ID's?"

"Bianca, I haven't been clubbing for ages. Besides, if you hadn't noticed, we exude cop vibes."

"Speak for yourself, tiger!" Bianca exclaimed, pretending to examine herself for the imaginary vibes Andy accused them both of exuding.

"Anyway, no, I didn't realise that," he was about to ask why it was important when it clicked. "Why didn't any of the nightclubs tell us this? We've been all over them asking for info this whole time; canvassing, repeat visits, requesting footage. What a bloody pain in the ass!" he cursed, angry at the lack of cooperation they received. Bianca handed him a list. He scanned it briefly before stating, "Karen's working over Christmas; she can do the legwork for this. Send her an email, copy me in on it. Hopefully most of these places still have their records on file. You would hope three months isn't too long for them to keep records. Some of them might have the files electronically, which would be great." He shook his head. "I cannot believe they wouldn't just pass on photocopied ID's. Ugh. Karen can chase it up for us. That's nice work. Good going Bianca."

* * *

They strode into Gar's Bar, fashionably late, as Bianca suggested, exuding confidence and cop vibes, as Andy suggested, and looked around to see who they knew. It was almost at capacity, full of lawyers and judges. Andy resisted the urge to go straight to the bar to get a drink and Bianca scanned the room, searching for Janet. She could see several people who didn't appear to fit in the lawyer or the judge category; and there were many familiar faces for which she had no names. Andy gave her a bit of a nudge and headed over to a group of people. He had spotted Lina and wanted to surprise her.

"Hey Prosecutey," he rumbled into Lina's ear. She turned, delighted.

"Hey stranger. I didn't know you were coming tonight." He chuckled and kissed her on the cheek before wrapping her hand within his own, his other hand giving her swollen belly a loving caress.

"I wasn't invited," he smirked. "Neither was Bianca, so we invited ourselves. We crashed your party!" Lina was a bit surprised. Andy usually wasn't so relaxed around the solicitors. She looked behind him to see Bianca strolling up casually.

"Bianca, how wonderful to see you!" She let go of Andy's hand to give Bianca a warm hug.

"Well, well, well. Look what the cat dragged in. Long time no see," a masculine voice purred from behind them. They turned.

"Owen! Merry Christmas," Andy reached out to shake his hand. "It's been a while. How have you been?"

"Good. Glad the year's over." He turned to Bianca and greeted her with an outstretched hand. "Bianca. I heard you were back working with the state police again." He smirked, "No more glamorous undercover operations for you to work on, hey?" He slowly pursed his lips, a smug, cocky grin on his face. "If I'd known you were coming I could have scrounged something up for you to work on." He was barely able to contain himself at this stage in time. "Maybe something… Under covers. We could get you all dressed up… or dressed down." He deliberately looked her up and down lecherously. "Another shoot to kill type operation."

"First of all," Bianca responded, "you couldn't afford me. Second, if work is all you're thinking about all the time, you're never gonna get laid. A girl doesn't like to talk shop all day, every day." She paused for added drama. "Thirdly, if you went undercover with me you'd have so much fun your head would explode." Bianca cut him down with a smirk of her own. He tilted his head slightly, acknowledging that yes; he would have so much fun with her there was a chance his head _would_ explode and also admitting her win this round.

Banter over, Owen moved towards the bar and asked the newcomers, "Do you two want a drink?"

"Yeah. Better make mine light," Andy responded, and Bianca seconded him. Owen returned shortly with drinks for everyone, including a soda water for Lina.

"Where's Richard now days?" Bianca inquired. She liked Richard; it was hard not to. He was a diligent lawyer and she didn't mind his abrupt, slightly abrasive manner. Lina piped up, ready to fill them all in on the latest gossip.

"He's on a holiday. He just took the bar exam, passing with flying colours, and he has gone to visit his girlfriend over in Switzerland. I think he was spending about a month over there and they're going to come back together."

Bianca made an impressed face.

"You should be impressed," Owen jumped in. "I didn't think he had the nous to pull a girl like that."

"Like what?"

"Kiesha. It's true!" He stated after Lina swatted him gently on the arm. "You didn't know him before. The nerd. He was the biggest walking train wreck I'd ever seen. Socially, I mean. Well… maybe not the biggest." He glanced over to where Janet and Erin were leaning against a high table, talking. Bianca hadn't noticed them before. She wondered who the redhead was. "I'm really impressed he got his shit together, relationship-wise. I dunno what he's going to do when he gets back. Guess we'll find out soon enough. I'm reasonably sure Janet would take him back; he'd be a reasonable crown, now that he's grown a pair."

Bianca took a sip of her beer and looked over at Janet again. This time she was gazing in the direction of the group; the redhead was talking at her. They locked eyes, and Bianca gave her a very tight smile before looking away.

"Nah, I'll be doing the Christmas lunch thing with my parents and such." Owen was still talking. "Probably seafood. And a suckling pig. My sister-in-law is Chinese and she was volunteered," he made some air quotations with both hands, careful not to spill his beer.,"to do the centrepiece." The group commenced a discussion on the merits of different types of roast pork, and the best preparation method.

Bianca looked towards Janet again. Janet was clearly not listening to the redhead, instead gazing in their general direction, a dreamy look on her face. Bianca smirked, amused. Janet slowly turned to face her companion, only breaking eye contact with Bianca at the last possible moment, spoke a few words to the redhead, touched her on the hand, then left the table, coming towards their group. The redhead trailed behind Janet, obviously not yet done with the conversation. _"Rude,"_ Bianca thought with delight, before trying to follow Owen's and Lina's religious debate. Bianca tracked them out of the corner of her eye, pretending not to see her lover join the group.

"Andy. Bianca," Janet greeted them breathily. "What a pleasure you could join us."

"Janet. Hello. We crashed the party." Bianca grinned, waving her hands about like a wizard casting a spell. "I was told that police weren't invited to these hoighty toighty shin-digs," Bianca commented, keeping her voice neutral despite the mirth bubbling within her from her observations of her lover's scramble to come join their conversation.

"This is Erin." Janet gestured to the redhead. "Erin, Bianca. Bianca managed our surveillance operations during the RC earlier this year." Bianca extended a hand in greeting. "Erin's one of our solicitors at the DPP."

"Junior solicitors," Owen corrected.

"Actually, I think I'm no longer a junior," Erin informed them all. "I have, after all, been at the DPP for almost four years. And Janet promoted me several years ago, remember? I'm a solicitor advocate now."

"Hmmmm…." Owen vocalised, dismissing her comments. "Yeah. Well. We'll see what blows in next year, OK?" He teased. She punched him in the arm with mock anger, before shuffling around him and wedging herself between him and Janet. Bianca observed as they continued this friendly banter, trying to characterise Erin. She certainly seemed very close to Owen, although Lina seemed uncomfortable with it; Lina and Andy had broken off into their own conversation about how late they should stay and the timing required to complete works on the nursery. She looked around at the rest of the party. In the corner were very young adults doing shots. Next to them, a very displeased looking Tony. One of the youngsters bumped into Tony, resulting in a tongue-lashing worthy of the Queen. Bianca cringed. So these must be this year's batch of Crownies. She looked back to Erin and Owen. They had managed to draw Janet into their banter now. Erin had placed a hand on Janet's elbow. Interesting. Just at that moment, Janet looked her way, and dropped her arm so Erin was no longer touching her. She straightened up, face neutral, unreadable. Bianca blinked slowly, and took a deep drink, deliberately maintaining eye contact with her lover, her face also blank.

"So, Erin, we never told you that Bianca was one of the cornerstones of the RC," Janet declared. "The SCC was breathing down our neck and we hadn't made any progress regarding the shipment, and it was Bianca's brilliant idea that saved us."

"Yeah, but it said it was all your idea in the report," Owen quipped. "Having said that though, Janet, I have to thank you for requesting me. That night was the best fun I think I've ever had." He winked at Erin, who's eyes bulged at the implications. "In all seriousness though, it was a good team. So much fun." He shook his head at the memories.

"Would anyone like a drink?" Erin burst out, feeling a little excluded.

"Just one more for me," Andy requested. "I think I've almost had enough." He wrapped his arm around Lina, massaging her shoulder and kissing her on the forehead. She smiled and turned her face towards his, seeking his lips with her own. Owen nodded for another, but Janet declined. Bianca also declined another drink. Erin headed off to the bar for another round.

"I'm still trying to iron out my feelings about Andy almost getting shot," Lina commented ruefully. "And that thing you two did." She frowned at the vision of Andy shoving Bianca down, pointing the gun at her, threatening her.

"It was for the job," he said bashfully. "Besides, I wasn't the one that copped the shiner for it."

"And I didn't get shot at," Bianca countered.

"You never told me who gave you that black eye," Janet said softly, directing her comment straight at Bianca. Bianca heard her because she was watching her. It wasn't clear who else did.

"It's not important," Bianca replied, just as softly, her breathing even, turmoil roiling inside her. That was the first night Janet asked her to stay. The first night they slept together. Slightly louder, so the others in the group could hear, she said, "Good outcome though." She frowned. "Well… I'd prefer not to have to shoot so many people." She pinched her lips together.

"Are we allowed to joke about this now?" Owen chimed in.

"You joked about it before, Owen," Bianca reminded him.

"Joke about what?" Erin returned with the drinks. She was a little worse for wear, her words slurred slightly more than before. She leaned up slightly against Owen. Amused, he placed his arm around her shoulder, pulling her into him. She rested her head on his chest. "You're so good to me."

Bianca raised an eyebrow at the embrace. He smiled sweetly back at her, but shook his head. They stayed like that for a little while, Erin had her eyes closed. She looked asleep. Bianca searched for an explanation, and it was Lina that offered it.

"Erin… has attachment issues," she said softly, after moving closer to Bianca. "Especially if she's been drinking." Bianca looked over Lina's head to Andy, who shrugged in acknowledgement of this statement.

"Maybe someone should take her home," she commented. Owen hummed. He didn't look ready to leave the party yet. Bianca sighed. "I can take her. I should get going anyway."

"No." Janet interjected. "You stay, I can take her."

"Janet… you're the best." Erin flopped over out of Owen's grasp and leaned into Janet. "You're so good to me." Janet looked embarrassed by Erin's outburst. "How come you don't invite me round anymore? I miss spending time with you," she whined, hugging the blonde and resting her head affectionately on her shoulder. Bianca arched an eyebrow and looked to catch Janet's eye. That was more than friendly touching. Janet was studiously avoiding her looks.

"That's it. C'mon. We're out of here," Janet commanded the inebriated woman, steering her out of the bar.

"What was that about?" Bianca asked. "She was fine… then she wasn't. So weird."

"Oh…" Lina volunteered. "She and Janet go back a bit. She was there for the birth of the twins, and she was accused of having an affair with Janet."

Bianca almost choked on her beer. "Pardon?" she asked, making sure she heard correctly.

"Yeah, Ash was interstate or something, and they were working back late… or maybe Janet called Erin back. Anyway, the babies came early and Erin was the one who was there for it." She rubbed gently on her bump and turned to her husband. "I won't forgive you if you aren't there when I deliver." One of the judges called over to Owen, who glanced at Bianca and excused himself.

"She and Janet…" Bianca prompted Lina for more information.

"Oh! No, they never… At least never before Ash… Erin isn't… They haven't…" Lina was trying desperately to extract herself from the situation. The ice queen herself could not have done a better job of shrinking down to such a state. "Erin's straight," Lina finally declared.

Bianca checked her phone. "Yeah, OK. It's late. I better get going." Using the sudden turn of events as a good opportunity to leave without offending anyone, Andy gently tugged on Lina's hand.

"We should get going as well." They walked towards the exit. "We're parked over there," he informed Lina making a motion with the hand that wasn't holding hers. "Do you need to get anything from the office or are we right to go?" She shook her head no, and he whispered into her ear, "Don't worry about it babe. Bianca's got to sort Janet out on her own." He turned to Bianca. "Hey, don't forget to ask about that stuff, ok?" She nodded, before heading into the darkness towards her own car.


	7. Chapter 7

**Keeping Secrets – Chapter 7 – "First Contact** "

Once again, big thank youth Duffie83 for beta-ing me.

* * *

First Monday back from the Christmas / New Year break saw Bianca waiting for an elevator in the underground car park under police headquarters. She arrived relatively early; traffic was still light due to lack of school and trades traffic, and Bianca wanted to get in and hopefully out early. The upwards-pointing triangle lit up as the elevator arrived to B1 car park. Bianca got in and pressed the desired floor before retreating to the back and waiting for the doors to slide shut. As the doors slid closed, a shirt-clad arm darted through rapidly before moving up and down and shooting back out of view. The elevator chimed, the doors paused, then changed direction, opening up again. Andy stepped through, nodding in greeting to Bianca.

"You'll lose an arm doing that. What are you doing here? I thought you were taking four weeks?" Bianca greeted Andy. He grinned, flapped his shirt and leaned on the opposite wall facing Bianca as the elevator doors slid shut again.

"I'm just coming in to check on a few things. Should be done before lunch. I'm still taking four weeks; can't afford to take much more, otherwise they'll demote my ass back down to traffic cop before I know it."

The elevator stopped moving and the doors slid open. Andy followed Bianca to the task force office. "Did you come in over the break?" he enquired.

"Yeah; this case is starting to get interesting. I wanted to keep the momentum up. I think we may be able to have some interviews soon – next few weeks, anyway. Pretty sure we have positive IDs for at least two of the guys. Karen's done some really good work. What would you say if I asked her to apply for a federal position?" Bianca placed her satchel down on her desk before grabbing her mug and following Andy to his office.

"I'd tell you to keep your dirty mitts off her." Andy went around his desk and turned his computer on before heading to the tea room for a coffee. "You find your own operatives. I have a hard enough time finding good ones." Bianca grinned at him as they walked.

"How's Lina doing?"

"Yeah, great. They only stayed at the hospital overnight, before being transferred out to a hotel for two nights. I stayed with them there, so that was pretty nice. Lina only had a little grazing," he waved a hand over his pelvis area, adding a slightly inappropriate tuck and tap motion with his hand, while bending his knees so his hips tilted, "and Henry's doing great. I'm glad I was there, even though it was pretty scary. There was so much blood! I can't believe…" Andy stopped himself from continuing as he realised that he was oversharing somewhat. "Anyway, they're both fine."

Bianca nodded. "Two weeks now?"

"Three, actually," Andy gushed. "He sleeps through the night, the little trooper. It's so peaceful to watch. Lina virtually pushed me out the door this morning; her parents have been over every other day; first grandson, you know, they think it's great." He grabbed a mug from the cupboard and put two spoonfuls of instant into it, before adding one of sugar. "Thanks for the cot and other stuff, by the way. I can't believe that you aren't allowed to sell it or buy second hand!"

"Yeah, it's a real monopoly." Bianca replied, before taking a sip of her hot tea. "You'll have to thank Janet. It was hers; I just asked for you."

"Well, thanks for asking. Lina was a bit hesitant to; Janet can be a bit intimidating sometimes." Bianca nodded and smiled. "How was your break, anyway? Did you get up to anything?"

"Not much. Watched the fireworks with the kids New Year's eve; Janet never took them before; couple of trips to the zoo, couple of trips to the beach. Standard stuff. You'll see soon enough mate; no more parties for you!" she chuckled. "Anyway, we've got work to do. Do you want me to run you through what we've found?"

* * *

"So Karen managed to chase down all those copies of the IDs and licences that the clubs took. She's scanned the ones we received hardcopies for and they're all on the system here," Bianca showed Andy the job folder she had created on the police intranet, "and the other ones we received electronically. She went through them visually to see how many compared with our stills," she motioned towards the wall where the photo print out of each suspect was pinned up, "and positively identified two of them from the ID's. She actually found the third guy through social media,"

Andy shook his head and tutted; Bianca wasn't sure if he was impressed with Karen's ingenuity or disappointed with social media. She continued, "She identified one of his friends as they took his licence, and tracked him down via Facebook. The last guy we're having a bit more trouble with. I mean, he's pretty nondescript, and he isn't matching up with anything we've got yet. Nothing's shown up with facial recognition software, which is a bit annoying, but that could be because we have poor angles. We're organising interviews for when the rest of the taskforce comes back – unless these guys have gone on holiday somewhere." Andy nodded along as Bianca gave him the facts. "It's no big drama if we wait a couple of weeks to get them in," she continued, "but if it rolls into February and we still haven't got hold of them, will you authorise a KALOF for them?"

"Yeah that's fine. Nice work Bianca." Andy cut the conversation off and headed back to his office while Bianca started another email with instructions to Danica and Karen.

* * *

"Are you sure we need all these items?" Bianca asked as she read through the book list Janet printed out earlier that week. They were making final preparations for the children to start prep; Janet took them to be outfitted for uniforms before the end of the previous school year, and this was the final step before the twins entered their official schooling.

"The teacher seemed adamant that we get all the items on the list," Janet replied, readjusting the basket in her hand while holding Emma's hand with her other.

"Are they going to be in the same class? Surely we don't need to get two of each? They can share can't they?" turning to look down at Liam, who was trailing behind her, she asked the boy, "Would you mind sharing your things with your sister?"

He shook his head, before stating, "Me and Em share all the time."

"See?" Bianca turned back to Janet. "Surely we don't need to get two of _everything._ Liam, no, put the play-doh in mum's basket ok?" Bianca checked the list. "Choose two colours, Liam. You choose two as well, Emma." She held the list up so Janet could look at it. "Surely they don't need…" she turned the list to look at it herself, before turning it back, "Seven packs of coloured pencils!"

"B, it's not seven packs of pencils, there are three packs of pencils, two packs of crayons and a pack of textas." Bianca lowered the offending list. "Liam, Emma, can you please find some glue?"

The women trailed behind the children, who had dashed ahead looking for clag. Bianca took the basket from Janet in frustration, handing her the list. "Janet, I'm telling you, no-one _needs_ seven different types of colour. They barely use everything they have at home! You aren't honestly thinking about doubling up are you?" she asked as Janet reached to put two of each of the required stationary items into the basket. Janet paused, and Bianca continued. "One lot of textas, one of colour pencils and one lot of crayons. Sharing is caring. We can always top up later." Janet acquiesced and took the suggestions off the shelf.

"Mum we got glue!" The twins had successfully found and brought back two bottles of clag.

"Well done!" Janet encouraged. "Pop it in the basket." Bianca held it so they could place the glue in with the other items. "OK, let's see what else we need to find. Can you show me where the glue was?" Each child grabbed one of her hands and dragged her down the aisle. Bianca followed, annoyed at yet another bureaucratic hoop which required jumping.

* * *

"Can you please state your name for the record, sir?" Kon and Elliot were performing the interview on the first suspect that Karen had managed to contact; a mild mannered sort of fellow, Riley Marshall, unassuming MBA who worked for one of the big four. He had been more than helpful when Karen and Danica knocked on his front door, immediately agreeing to come in and give an interview to the police regarding his whereabouts on the night of the Latif girls' disappearance; he explained to his wife that it was all probably a misunderstanding and he would likely be home before the three in the afternoon. After watching his behaviour, Karen was inclined to agree.

"It's… Ummm… Riley Marshall." He looked nervous; it was probably his first ever police interview. Bianca and Andy watched from behind the two-way mirror.

"Your occupation, sir?" Kon was going to do most of the talking; he was the less intimidating looking man. Andy leaned over and whispered into Bianca's ear, "They probably should have got one of the girls to do this interview." Bianca crossed her arms and nodded in agreement.

"I do finance; accounts manager at ANZ." He fiddled with his fingers.

"Can you remember where you were on the night of October three last year?"

Riley Marshall frowned. "Ummm… maybe? What day was it?"

"It was a Friday night sir; we have footage of you on Kings Street. Does that ring any bells?"

Bianca raised an eyebrow and glanced at Andy, who shrugged. How missing persons chose to train their staff was their own business, as long as it got results. Back in the interview room, Mr. Marshall began to fidget.

"Is there a problem?" Kon asked.

"Could I please have a drink of water? I'm having a bit of trouble breathing." And he did appear to be struggling; the colour had risen in his face and beads of sweat were forming on his brow. Elliot quickly left the room to get him a drink. They waited in silence for Elliot to return, and after Riley gulped the water down, they continued to wait in silence for him to explain where he was.

"I… Umm…. What's this about, anyway?" Riley asked.

"Sir, we have footage of you following a group of girls up and down King Street. If you could just tell us about your night, then we can let you go." Kon turned to the flat screen in the room. "Do you want to see the footage?" Riley slumped in his chair and shook his head.

"No, I think I know the night you want. It was Friday and we had spent the last four weeks at work being smashed; big client and we'd misplaced about two and a half million dollars." Kon and Elliot exchanged a glance. "It sounds like a lot of money but it isn't really. Sometimes it's a reconciliation error," Riley explained. "But this time it wasn't. We spent bloody ages trying to suss where it went; unpaid overtime, late nights, early mornings. It snowballed; the more time we were spending on this account, the more we were neglecting the others. That Monday we managed to find the money, and by Friday we'd caught up with the other work. A few of us decided to go out and celebrate; I don't go out much, so one of the boys suggested a place. We jumped in a cab and ended up at this seedy strip club." He shifted uncomfortably as he recalled his night. "So we got a couple of private dances…" he pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and scrubbed across his forehead, before huffing, wringing his hankie out and continuing. "And I got really drunk and… ummm… really horny as well. I've never done this before. Next thing I know, I'm on the street and I can't find my mates. I search up and down looking for them. I don't remember seeing the girls you're talking about; I was just looking for the guys. After going up and down a few times, one of the boys comes out of this bar, and he sees me and asks if I'm up for more fun. He takes me to the only place that'll still let us in," he scrubs at his face again, composure threatening to break. Behind the glass, Andy mouths _'hookers'_ to Bianca. "It turns out that I spent some hours and several hundred dollars there that night; you can check my bank statements; my wife certainly did; I've only just got her to forgive me… I had to take tests and such to prove I was clean… please don't bring this up with my wife." He hung his head before propping it up with both hands.

Kon took the opportunity to ask for a DNA sample. "Mate, it sounds like we may have to ask your wife to verify your whereabouts that night," Riley's head snapped up, distraught. "Unless you provide us with a DNA sample. It'll rule you out and we won't have to ask anyone anything else." Riley agreed before Kon had even finished his sentence.

* * *

"What a bust." Danica commented to Kon. "He must have had a fair bit to drink if he couldn't remember following the girls."

"He might not have been doing it deliberately, but you know what they say, drinking only brings out what was already inside." Elliot replied as he crossed Riley's photo off and wrote "NO DNA MATCH" beside the photo. "How are you going with the other suspects?"

It was Danica that replied. "I'll be going 'round to this bloke's workplace with some uniforms on Thursday," she frizbee'd a file across the desk for Elliot to look at. "We have his work routine sorted – he's a PT so if we pick him up around 8:30 there shouldn't be too much disturbance. We found him on Instagram," she brought up his page on her computer. There were hundreds of photos of him posing with his shirt off, either at the gym or at the beach. The tattoos clearly matched the stills taken from the video footage. Every fourth or fifth photo featured a different young lady posing with him. To Danica, he looked like a classic fuckboy.

"Ladies man, eh?" Elliot commented, before Karen shot him a withering look. He pointed at a photo where the guy was in budgie smugglers. "Someone skipped leg day," before chuckling at his gymbro style joke. Danica shut the browser window and shook her head.

* * *

Mid morning on Thursday saw Bianca sitting in Andy's office, waiting for Danica and the uniformed officers to bring the second suspect in for questioning when her phone rang. She pulled it out of her pocket and checked the screen. Danica. She pressed accept and brought the phone to her ear.

"Danica. What's happened?"

"He didn't show at work today. We've got a home address as well, and Karen went with some uniforms to see if they could find him there. We talked to the owner and several of the members who think he's a bit of a creep. Only helps pretty girls out, offers _massages_ all the time, borderline inappropriately touches them while _helping_ them with form, lets his mates in to train without paying, stuff like that. Thinks he's hot shit basically. One of the other PTs showed us a conversation he had with her on Tinder – he's a bit of misogynistic asshole. She screen shotted it in case he tried to delete the conversation so she could prove that he was a creep. He certainly seems to match the profile of our suspect; he's pretty strong, but he just wants to get ripped for Stereo,"

"Stereo?" Bianca interrupted.

"Stereosonic – it's a music festival where young men bulk up and strip off in the hopes of scoring."

"Uhhhh…. Right."

"Anyway, we've had a chat to several people here who aren't surprised that we are looking for him. They thought he was up for a rape charge or something."

"OK, keep us informed. See if you can pick him up at home; if not, we'll put a KALOF out." Bianca looked over at Andy who nodded.

* * *

"Get your dirty cop hands off me! I've got rights you know!" A moderate commotion caused by a largish man and two uniformed officers interrupted the relative peace of the ground floor of police HQ. Elliot went down to met them; Karen phoned earlier to inform them that this one was not coming peacefully; he was threatening police brutality while using his bulk to intimidate the detectives sent to collect him. It had taken Karen a significant amount of smooth talking and a small amount of thinly veiled threats to get him to accompany them to the station; for some reason, he became more and more agitated as they got closer to HQ. Elliot was sent to meet him and try to take control of the situation, hopefully preventing it from escalating further.

"Sir, please calm down." Elliot headed towards the man, hands out with his palms downwards. He came out wearing his gun holster and sidearm, as a deliberate subliminal intimidation measure. He had also rolled his shirt sleeves up above his elbows, and prior to coming down to meet them, he had done several quick sets of benches, curls and shrugs so he had an artificial pump in his arms, chest and shoulders. He looked incredibly intimidating, and as he headed towards the suspect, his appearance had the desired effect of subduing the suspect without laying a hand on him. "This way please." He led the way to interview room 1, where Kon was waiting for them. The uniformed officers escorted him into the room and one left to stand outside at the door, whilst the other one stayed in the corner. Karen peeled off and went into the darkened adjoining room where Bianca and Andy were waiting.

"What do you think?" Andy asked.

"Big potential," she replied, "He certainly matches one of the profiles that we have; entitled misogynistic douche." Bianca raised an eyebrow. She didn't recall reading the word 'douche' anywhere in the profile reports. "We have his basic history; private school boy; daddy's a lawyer – first generation Greek; he also studied law for two years before dropping out and changing to personal training instead. He's had a drug charge before – was picked up with amphetamines at a music festival last year. His father pulled some strings for him and he got off with good behaviour. Danica's got statements from his colleagues and clients suggesting that he is capable of violence against women."

"How old is he?" Bianca interjected.

"He's 28. I know what you're going to say, but it's possible. I mean he would have been young, but it was after all an opportunistic attack. It's not out of the question."

Bianca made a slightly dismissive sound.

"She's got a point Bianca;" Andy commented before speculating, "he would have been seventeen or eighteen if he did the Brennan murder; it would make sense; kid goes to Uni Open day, wants to check out the dorms, knocks on a door, girl opens it to see what he wants; he asks to see inside, then overpowers her and does the deed."

Bianca made a face of disgust at the thought of a teen raping and murdering a woman. "Yeah, it's possible. I hope it's not true though. The thought of it turns my stomach. Besides, I really can't imagine a young bloke like that having the capacity to dump a body in the forest."

They turned their attention to the interview room, where Elliot was questioning their suspect.

"So, Julian. You've got a pretty busy schedule. Can you tell me about it?"

Julian grunted.

"For example. You work early mornings and mid to late afternoons most days. Can you elaborate on which days you do that?"

"Yeah. Monday to Friday."

"What happens in the afternoons?" Elliot prompted.

"Most days I go home. I get other shit done."

"Other 'shit'… what other 'shit' would you be referring to?"

"You know. General life shit. I do groceries, and play video games, and meal prep."

"Ah, Ok. I understand. What about weekends? Do you have them off?"

Julian grunted affirmatively, and Elliot pushed for a more definitive comment. "You must have a pretty busy weekend schedule. Do you go out Friday nights? Clubbing? Again on Saturday and Sunday?"

Julian shook his head. "Only Friday and Saturday nights. Sunday I gotta get ready for the week."

"Do you have a steady girlfriend, Julian?"

He laughed, and shook his head. "Nah, I'm a free agent. I get all the pussy I want from clientele wanting a root or I can pick up clubbing."

"Hmmm…" Elliot made a show of thinking about how much action the young man sitting across the table from him may be receiving. "I haven't had much luck myself…" he smiled. "Perhaps you could pass on some tips?"

"Na brah – You just gotta have game. You don't got it."

"That's too bad for me, I guess." Elliot shook his head sadly. "How often do you reckon you go out? How often do you reckon you score?"

"Fuck mate, that's a bit personal isn't it?"

"It's all relevant to our investigation sir."

Julian hesitated a bit, before offering that he went out every weekend.

"Do you have any siblings, Julian?"

"What's that got to do with anything?"

Kon, irritated with the speed of the interview, interjected "Just answer the question."

Julian glanced at the other policeman nervously. "Yeah, younger brother. He's in Year 11."

Elliot started up again. "So you'd be familiar with the end of the school year?"

Julian nodded affirmatively.

"Do you know about end of year exams?"

Julian nodded again.

"Do you recall if you would have gone out around then?"

He shrugged.

"Friday October 3rd?"

He paused, deep in thought, trying to remember, before finally grunting affirmatively.

"That's a yes?"

"Yeah."

"Who would be able to verify your whereabouts?"

"What's this about pal? I was out with some mates."

"Julian, could you walk us through your night? The faster we can rule you out as a suspect, then the faster you can leave."

Julian considered this for a bit, weighing up his choices. Elliot could almost see the cogs turning inside the younger man's head. Finally, he spoke up. "Am I under arrest?"

Elliot leaned back in his chair and Kon crossed his arms. Behind the two-way mirror, Andy rocked back on his heels and wiped his mouth. "Fucker," he mumbled.

"No, Julian, you aren't. We're just having a friendly chat." Elliot responded.

"Yeah. I think I'm done chatting. And If I'm not under arrest, I think I'll go now." Julian pushed back the chair and stood to leave.

Glowering, Elliot also stood. "We'll chat again soon, Julian."

Julian smirked. "I don't think so." And then he left.

* * *

Back in the meeting room, the whole team mulled over the developments with Julian Patten. He was certainly someone they were becoming more and more interested in; the sudden change in his mannerisms once he worked out the day they were interested in suggested he was hiding something, and the arrogance of the young man rankled all who watched him walk out of the interview room; Andy called a snap meeting before venting with a barrage of language completely and utterly unsuitable for the workplace before dismissing them all in frustration.

"I thought he was supposed to be on leave," Elliot muttered under his breath.

"All right. How can we get a warrant for this smug prick?" Bianca took over. She was no more pleased than the rest of them about the way it played out, and wanted to steer the team back on track. She left Danica in charge of trawling through his Instagram page to see if she could find any links. Reluctant to place him under surveillance, Bianca excused herself and left for the day.

* * *

"That's your phone," Janet tilted her head to identify the ringtone and track the sound. She checked her watch. "It's pretty late. Who would be calling you at this time of night?"

Bianca shook her head and shrugged. It could be anyone. She went to the bedroom to find the device. It was Danica. She swiped left to answer.

"Hello?"

"Hey, sorry to call so late. I've been going through this guy's Instagram,"

"Are you at home?" Bianca looked up as Janet walked into the bedroom. Bianca stood, heading downstairs while listening to Danica on the phone. She peered into the twin's room; both asleep. In the background, she heard the shower turn on.

"Sorry, you were saying? Did you find something?"

"I think so," Danica replied, "Two years ago, Falls festival… there's a photo with Julian, Latif, and two other girls." Bianca chewed thoughtfully on the inside of her cheek.

"Good work. Do we have photos of the friends that Latif was out with on October 3rd?"

"Uhhh…. We may do. I'll check the files tomorrow."

Bianca turned and started heading back upstairs.

"That's great stuff Danica." Bianca breathed out, smiling. "Really good. Thanks for the call. I'll see you tomorrow." She ended the call and entered the bedroom. Janet was in bed, reading. She looked up. "I thought you were having a shower?"

"I had one earlier. There was a spider in the stall. I was just washing it down the drain." She quirked a brow. "You seem pleased."

"Yeah," the smile from earlier was still on Bianca's lips. "I think I am." She said as she went into the bathroom to get ready for bed.


	8. Chapter 8

**Keeping Secrets – Chapter 8 – "Gullible's Travels"**

Big thank you to Duffie83 for persevering with an unfamiliar fandom from an unfamiliar country – it'll make sense one day!

* * *

In the days following the initial interview with Julian Patten, the Latif taskforce went after him with more than a little aggression; Julian's sudden change in demeanour in the interview room and his final "I don't think so" managed to upset Andy enough for him to organise a search warrant as soon as Danica found a link to the Latif girl, he fast tracked the warrant by using a magistrate that happened to be golf buddies with the Commissioner, and before the ink was even dry, the police were knocking on Julian's inner city apartment.

The search of Julian's apartment yielded a small treasure trove of illegal items; a stash of steroids, weed and restricted painkillers were found in various parts of the apartment; his medicine cabinet, in the kitchen amongst spice jars, and in his gym bag. Elliot took particular pleasure in hauling him in; while his methods bordered on police brutality, Elliot had enough experience in the job to stop just short of something that could be used as evidence of such. A second warrant allowed them to confiscate all computers, tablets, phones, or items capable of recording or storing images; it certainly rang true that when there was a will, there was a way.

They let Karen have a crack at the interrogation this time; both Andy and Bianca felt that Elliot would have trouble extracting usable information from the young man, especially considering the hostility experienced both at the end of the previous interview and during Julian's arrest. Karen presented well; she was able to maintain a facade of pleasant happiness while stealthily gathering information from the unsuspecting suspect. Kon stayed in the room with her, and once again, Bianca and Andy watched from behind the glass.

"Is that even legal?" Bianca asked Andy, referring to the Asian accent that Karen was bunging on.

"No-one's pulled us up on it yet," he replied. "We've done it several times. You wouldn't believe just how effective it is." He chuckled at Karen's ingenuity.

Bianca shook her head. They certainly dealt with a different level of dimwits in the state police. A fake accent wasn't likely to gain any traction with the crowd she normally ran with. They turned their attention to the interview, where Karen was going through some photos of the illegal items they found in Julian's apartment. She paused on the photo of the Fentanyl.

"I don't suppose you have a prescription for this, do you?"

Julian stayed silent as Karen examined the photo. "Yes, Thai. My family uses Thai medication sometimes as well." Karen's fake accent suddenly became slightly thicker, and she lowered her voice, as if sharing a secret. "One of my uncles took this. Cancer. He had no money for treatment. One night, the pain was so bad he took two… maybe three." Karen looked down sadly. "My cousin found his father next morning; terrible thing for a young boy to see." She sighed and put down the photo. Behind the glass Andy smirked, and Bianca looked appalled. "I think maybe this will cause you trouble." She gently wobbled the photograph before putting it down. "Lots of trouble." She smiled sadly at him. He appeared confused, and looked at Kon, who shrugged. "Perhaps if you tell me about it, it won't be so bad?" Julian leaned back in his chair, obviously reluctant to talk. Karen rotated through the photographs, settling on one featuring his gym bag with packets of pills laid out beside it. She continued on, "My friend's boyfriend uses steroids sometimes... I'm not really supposed to know about it, but she told me it's because he got no stay - ying powa." She raised both eyebrows. "If he can even get it up. They like to choof" she made a pinching and smoking motion, "every now and then and one time she told me it doesn't... you know." She took a deep breath and released it slowly while raising her pinkie finger on her right hand simulating an erection. "I guess it's not the end of the world. Although it would be nice if a man could..."

Julian interrupted.

"That's Bullshit. I can get it up whenever I want. I don't have erectile problems. The only reason I take steroids is to get big. I satisfy all the girls I'm with. Every one of them!" Karen looked unconvinced. "I don't even take that Fentanyl stuff. I only got it because I fell off a moped in Thailand and my friend got me two boxes of it. You can't hold me for this. What charges do you have against me?" Julian had risen slightly in his seat, and was leaning across the table, animatedly pointing his finger at Karen with each declaration. Kon cleared his throat.

"Well, cannabis is illegal, anabolic steroids and Fentanyl are Schedule IV drugs, so we can charge you for that. Depending on how helpful you are for the rest of this interview, and provided we don't find anything else in our searches." Julian's eyes widened. "We could ask for four years, or we could come up with a bit of a deal. Once again, this is provisional on the fact that we don't find anything else." Karen calmly collected the photographs of Julian's apartment and stacked them up, lining each edge up neatly, waiting for him to collect himself and think about the mess he was currently in. After a while, Karen picked up the manilla folder the original photographs came in. From the back of the folder, Karen withdrew a photo of Gemma "Jamie" Latif and slid it across the table to Julian. "Pretty girl, yes?" A guarded look fell over Julian's features.

"Julian, where were you on the night of October 3rd last year?"

"What's it to you?"

Karen smiled, and the accent disappeared. "We have reason to believe that you were involved in the rape and murder of this girl." She retrieved a second photograph of Jamie Latif, an autopsy photo, looked at it and callously slapped it on the table in front of Julian. "Actually, we're pretty close to placing you at the scene of the crime."

"Fuck off. I never did that. I don't know her." He nervously spat. Karen and Kon waited for him to sweat a little bit before Kon slid the folder away from Karen and pulled out a third photograph.

"Care to explain this then?" he asked.

Julian's eyes widened and he spluttered, taking in the photo in front of him, before looking at the school photo of Latif, his eyes rapidly darting between the two pictures. Finally, he collected himself enough to cough and mutter, "I think I want a lawyer."

Bianca leaned against the back wall in the surveillance room, watching Julian pace. His lawyer had been contacted and they decided to let him stew, just to see if he would fuck up. She watched as he paced back and forth, first from the table to each wall and back, before beginning to circle the room like a shark. When he reached the broad mirror that Bianca was on the other side of, he paused, trying to peer in. He did another lap of the room, before pausing at the mirror again. This time he cupped his hands against the mirror, attempting to black out the light so he could see into the darkened room. Foggy patches formed under his nostrils as he breathed out. Bianca pushed off the wall and slowly walked towards him. She stopped when they were nearly face to face, examining him, his breathing patterns, his eyes. She stepped backwards, waiting for his anger and frustration to flow. He groaned, clenched his fists up into balls and slammed them into the glass ineffectually, leaving greasy smears behind. He leaned back in frustration, and hit the mirror again, this time high, well above his head, before slumping slightly, and flattening his hands onto the glass. Bianca watched the palms of his hands drag down. She looked at her own hands, absently brushing her thumb over her trigger finger. She looked up at Julian's hands again, before turning to leave. A uniformed officer was stationed outside interview room 1; Bianca went to him, said a few words to which he nodded his head, and then she left.

* * *

"You'll catch all the traffic if you don't leave soon," Janet cast a disapproving eye over Bianca's bathrobe clad form, before glancing at her watch. "You're gonna be late for work – I don't need any extra stress today." She grimaced and turned her attention back to her make up.

Bianca grinned in agreement, before sauntering slowly towards Janet until she was directly behind the other woman. She ducked down a little so she and Janet were at eye level and Janet could watch her eyes in the mirror. She could already see Janet struggling to concentrate on her eyeliner, and suppressed a smile as her lover knit her brows in frustration, trying to focus on the task at hand. Bianca tugged at her bathrobe, revealing a shapely shoulder and the swell of her breast, before gradually straightening up and revealing more and more skin in the mirror.

"Do you want me to poke an eye out?" Janet scowled. "What are you up to?"

"I'm just getting ready to change. Isn't that what you wanted?"

Janet huffed and steadied her hand, ready to try again. Bianca smirked and dropped the bathrobe completely, twisting away and walking naked to the wardrobe, an exaggerated sway to her hips as she went. Shaking her head in frustration, Janet tried yet again to put her face on. When she finally succeeded and turned around, she saw Bianca dressed casually; jeans and a sleeveless blouse.

"Aren't you going to work today?" she asked.

"Maybe. I thought you might like me to stick around. I know I once said I didn't want to presume, but I'd also like to make myself available… for moral support. I mean. It's a big day, isn't it?"

Janet took a deep breath. "I was rather hoping that it was just going to be another day, actually."

Bianca smiled. "Really?" She gave her lover a piercing glance. "I can't believe for a second that this is 'just another day'. You stayed up half the night packing their bags. The way I see it, this is a pretty big milestone, for them and you." She casually rested her weight on one foot and placed her hands in her pockets. "But, if you'd rather treat it like just another day I can…"

"All right smart arse. You got me." Janet interrupted. "It is a big day, and I am a bit stressed." She finally smiled. "Have you taken the whole day off?" Bianca nodded. "Thank you."

"We can have a coffee after if you like. Are you going to work today?"

"I have to; just for a few hours."

"I can drop you off and pick you up after if you want. They will finish up early today, right? Will you have enough time to do your work if I swing by your office after lunch so you can come do the pick up with me?" Janet nodded. "Ok, give me a call when you're close to finished. If you don't call me by one I'm coming to get you." Janet opened her mouth to object. "Babe, I'm going to drag you kicking and screaming if I have to. You aren't missing the kid's first day of school. Okay?"

Janet relented and agreed, the stress leaving her body. "Okay. Ready to get them up?" Bianca nodded and took Janet's hand as she led the way to the twins' room.

* * *

At approximately a quarter past one in the afternoon, after leaving several messages on Janet's voicemail, Bianca calmly strode into the DPP looking for her lover. A junior solicitor directed her to Janet's office, and she intercepted Tony on the way through.

"Hey, what are you doing here? Don't you have a day job?" Tony asked in greeting.

Bianca chuckled. "Yes, but Janet was supposed to leave fifteen minutes ago. I've been waiting for her downstairs, and I finally decided that we really have to go. I promised to drag her out no matter what."

"Where's the fire?" Tony grumbled.

"Liam and Emma's school; it's their first day." Tony's eyebrows shot up, and he turned on his heel towards Janet's office, motioning Bianca to follow him. Knocking as he entered, he burst into Janet's office where Janet and Erin had their heads together.

"What are you working on," he demanded. "Don't you have somewhere to be?"

"The Smith case. What's going on? Tony, why did you…" She trailed off as Bianca stepped into her office behind Tony. "Shit." She stood quickly, closing the file. "Erin, you'll have to go on with this yourself, ok? I have to go." Turning to Bianca, she mouthed, "Sorry", while quickly gathering her handbag and tote. She rushed past Tony and Bianca, murmuring her thanks to him as she passed by. Bianca nodded to Tony and followed along behind.

* * *

"We still got him on the drugs charges," Danica said eagerly to Bianca, who made a noncommittal noise. "How did you know?"

"Just a hunch." Bianca responded. "Have you managed to find the other two yet?"

"Umm… no, we sort of slowed down on it when we had Julian in our crosshairs. You must have known," Danica persisted. "You didn't even bother to watch the second interview; Andy was a bit shitty that you weren't there." Bianca shrugged dismissively. "So, how did you know? You knew before his lawyer came."

Relenting, Bianca answered. "Did you look at his hands?" Danica shook her head. "It just didn't look like he'd ever done any labouring before. His hands were smoother than a baby's bum. I just couldn't see him digging that hole. Combined with his background and his age, he just didn't fit the profile I had in my head."

Danica looked unhappy. "He fit one of my profiles," she muttered.

Bianca moved around her desk and sat down, swivelling her chair. "How are you all going with those work up's I asked for?" Danica gave a vague, vacant look, and Bianca sighed. "The backgrounds of the two women leading up to their deaths. I asked Karen and yourself to look into it before Christmas?"

"Uhhhh…. Yeah..." Danica responded, without providing any further elaboration. "I'll just… ah… go on with that, shall I?"

Bianca shook her head and turned her attention to the Patten boy's interview transcript.

* * *

"Find this guy." Bianca put a file on the table in front of Danica. "See if he fits in with this profile."

Danica picked up the report and thumbed through it. Confused, she asked, "I haven't seen this profile before?"

"Yup. I added it just the other day. Added the info Sam got for me." Danica held out her hand, expecting a second document. "Its on the system." Danica's hand dropped to her side. "How are you going with those work up's I asked for?"

"Ahh… Yeah." Danica bustled to Karen's desk. "Umm… just have them here. Not quite finished, but almost there." Bianca raised an eyebrow, and Danica kept talking while quickly scanning through the files. "Nothing too exciting about Cameron; she kept to herself; school then most nights straight back to res. Studied in the library, worked Friday, Saturday nights at a receptions joint as a waitress; moderately active; she jogged weekly, uni trivia nights, no boyfriend we could find." Danica switched files, opening the second folder. "Brennan; housewife, dropped the kids off and picked them up; usually did groceries mid week; no discernable hobbies." She fell silent.

"That's it?" Annoyed at the incredibly brief life summaries, Bianca pinched the bridge of her nose and took a deep breath. "Do you think those profiles will be rounded out at all or is that it?"

"I can take another look at it, but I think we have a reasonable picture."

Bianca stopped pinching the bridge of her nose and leaned back in her chair, swivelling it slightly. "Can you find out where the trivia nights were held and if there were any regulars or whatever? It's a long shot but someone might remember something," she pointed at the file sitting on the edge of her desk. "And go find that guy."

* * *

Danica slowly scrolled through the profile Bianca added to the system; it all made sense; it was like a join the dot picture; Bianca just seemed to be doing a better job of seeing what that picture was. Danica sighed, and scrolled back to the top of the report. _Male. Caucasian. History of violence, typically unprovoked. Labourer or other manual type work. Potentially from the country; farmer, or farmer parents._ Danica looked up from the report and wrote onto a post-it note, before reading on. _Youngest potential age would be mid thirties – age range up to mid fifties, maybe early sixties. Any work category that would be considered a dirty job. Maximum level of education – HSC / moderate to normal intelligence. No physical impairments. Potentially had martial arts training. Non-religious._ Danica put the brief down. It was shorter than the other profiles, but was different in several ways; theirs targeted white collar workers and didn't specify ages; the original profile mark ups were based purely on opportunistic sexual predation; right place right time sort of thing. She could see that Bianca's profiling was slightly more holistic, incorporating the prior murders that the DNA samples had uncovered. She picked up the second file; the one Bianca had flicked over to her earlier, and opened it. Within the folder sat several CCTV photos, as well as a photocopy of a licence. She squinted at the licence and back at the still captures of the man in the video and frowned. They really didn't look that similar. She turned to her computer and loaded a search engine up, typing his name in. No hits on any of the social media sites she was familiar with. She stood and grabbed her keys, looking around to see who might want to go for a drive. Bianca was still at her desk, fussing over some paper. "Bianca!"

Bianca looked up very briefly before continuing with her paperwork. "Yes?"

"I want to go have a look at this guy's place – you know, see if he matches your profile? You wanna come for a drive?" She asked hopefully.

"Er, no, take Elliot or Sam. I ran them through the notes yesterday; I think one of the have time to kill. I've just been asked for a quick follow up on one of the Interpol jobs I was on before I started here – the guy I handed over to is on sick leave or something. I'll be tied up for a couple of days at least."

"Oh. Okay." Danica stayed still, staring at Bianca until Bianca looked up at her.

"Anything else?" she asked while continuing to write.

"Um… No. I'd better leave you to it."

"Yeah, would ya?"

Danica turned to find someone to go with her.

* * *

"I don't think this guy lives here." Danica looked at the photocopy of the licence again to check they were at the right address. She and Elliot watched a young woman take her baby for a walk in a pram, waited for a man who did not match Cooper Long's description to pull into the driveway, watched all three of them leave the house around seven and return around eight, and then watched the lights turn off around nine thirty. After some deliberation, they went home for the evening and Kon and Sam returned at first light to keep an eye on the property. After several days of surveillance, they determined Mr Long did not actually live at the listed address; a phone call to the estate agent informed them Mr Long vacated the property over eighteen months ago, and he co-leased with Mr Gavin Frazer for approximately six months before defaulting on payments; the owner had forcefully requested new tenants be obtained.

Later that evening, Danica sat in the corner of the local pub mulling over developments. She told Elliot that she would pass on information to Andy and Bianca, but still hadn't done so yet. She took another nip of scotch, trying to work out how she was going to break the news about Cooper Long to The Brass.


	9. Chapter 9

**Keeping Secrets - Chapter 9 "Shift Workers"**

Once again, thank you Duffie83 for persevering through the swings and roundabouts.

* * *

Bianca sat hunched over her desk, unnaturally still. To the casual observer, she looked asleep. The illusion shattered when her arms moved slightly and her fingers flew over the keyboard, rapidly adding another sentence to the document open on screen.

She was trying to expand on the profile she had added to the police database the other day; she glanced over at Danica, who was chewing absently on the end of her pen and reading a JB-Hi Fi pamphlet, before looking down at her hands which were resting softly on the keyboard in the classic typist position. She wiggled her fingers before adding another paragraph to the profile. Pausing again to look at Danica, she called, "You in the market for some electricals?"

Danica looked up, guilty, snatching the pen from her mouth and putting the flyer down. "Just having a look to see what's about. I like to keep abreast of things."

Bianca suppressed the urge to sigh and turned back to her screen without responding, trying to focus on the task at hand. She read over the paragraph she added and changed it slightly before pressing save.

"Danica," she called without looking over at the younger woman. "What are you doing to find Mr. Long?"

"There's not much we can do," Danica replied as she swivelled in her chair. "I mean, the guys from homicide did doorknocks in the shops in the CBD, and I think they dropped flyers while they were at it."

"Do you know the addresses of their enquiries?"

"I think it was just western CBD?"

Bianca frowned and stood up to see if Karen was at her desk. Sure enough, hidden behind the computer screen, Karen sat with headphones in, her head bobbing along with a tune while she clicked away with her mouse.

Bianca took a breath, ready to raise her voice and call across the room before she remembered her manners, stood and walked over to ask Karen about the doorknock process. She tapped her fingernails on Karen's desk, causing her to pause her clicking and look up.

"Hey," Karen greeted Bianca as she took the earbuds out. "What's up?"

"Do you have a map or list of the places you visited to drop those flyers?"

Karen coiled the headphones up neatly and placed them in her pocket. "Yeah," she replied before leaning over to a pile of papers on the right corner of her desk, picking up the top third and depositing them down in front of Bianca. "We have an outline here," she took an A4 Google map print out from halfway down the pile. "We traversed everywhere that's highlighted on the map. Mainly just showed photos of Cooper and that other fellow we identified; I've got addresses, names, notes and contacts here." She thumbed through the rest of the paper, where Bianca could see neat handwriting flick rapidly past. Danica walked up behind Bianca and peered over her shoulder at the map she was holding.

"How long ago did you do this?" Bianca wobbled the piece of paper in her hand.

"We finished a couple of days ago. The other guys got called back to do some of their regular work; Elliot and Sam are covering for me while I finalise the report for this last lot of work we did. Unless we start coming up with some more ideas or this Long fellow or Mr. No-Name just drop into our laps, we can't afford to spin the wheels on this case anymore."

Bianca put the map down while quirking an eyebrow and pinching her lip up at the same time, acknowledging how futile the situation seemed. "Before you head off, can I get you to do one last thing?"

"You got it."

"I want you and Danica to go talk to staff at the major servo's from the CBD out to the M7; one's off main roads, ones with fast food joints on them."

From behind Bianca, Danica made a soft questioning groan. Bianca and Karen both looked at her expectantly.

"Nothing." Danica mumbled.

"It makes sense," Karen reasoned. "Bianca's profile, combined with where the girl was found…" she turned to her computer and clicked on Google maps. "If we assume the perp did this exact same thing," she typed in 'King Street, Sydney to Linden, NSW' and clicked search. "We can drive the three or four provided routes and drop flyers off on the way."

Bianca smiled at Karen. "Yes and no. I like your thinking, but I think it's a long shot that he would have stopped for fuel. It's only a 200 k drive. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't, but it was almost five months ago; no-one's going to remember a face off stills, and most servos wouldn't have their footage from that long ago still on file. No, I was thinking more along the lines that I think he either lives or works out west. I think only old money, lawyers and doctors live anywhere close to town nowadays, with the price of rent and whatnot. I have a hunch that the guy we are after commutes and fills up off one of the main highways. Karen, can you print out a bigger map for me to mark up? Make sure you leave copies of our perps with them so they can show their staff, okay?"

Karen nodded along and set to work printing a map out for Bianca.

* * *

"You. Are a Bloody Genius."

Andy accosted Bianca as she came out of the bathroom, waving her towards his office. He had obviously been loitering in the corridor waiting for her.

"Are you right?" Bianca asked, self consciously checking herself and making sure her shirt was tucked in, incredulous that he chose that moment and location to talk to her.

Andy laughed. "Don't worry. You look schmik." He made an 'OK' symbol with his hand. "C'mon." Bianca clenched her jaw slightly as she followed Andy into his office, where Karen was sitting waiting for them. "Have a seat. Karen's got some news to share." Bianca sat down while Andy closed the door behind them and leaned against the closest wall, waiting for Karen to deliver the news. When she didn't immediately start he nodded at her, prompting her to begin.

"So Danica and I went and spoke to the employees at those service stations you suggested; we added a few more along the way, but essentially, we spoke to either the owners or the managers at the servos. Honestly, I didn't think anything would come of it, but any idea's a good idea, so long as there's solid investigative work behind it or it's logical. Anyway, a couple of days pass and I get this phone call; it's from one of the servos that we talked to. The fella wants us to come out and have a chat, so we do. Turns out the owner only works graveyard shift because he doesn't really trust the employees to not steal. He was looking though the paperwork when he saw the photo. Apparently, even though we tell 'em that it's important to pass this information on to all employees that doesn't always happen. He reckons that Long comes in sporadically on his shift; usually fills up and buys a heap of junk – more than expected; the same amount you'd normally go to a supermarket to buy. He remembered him because the last time he was in he also purchased some rather random items; along with the junk food he also purchased some steel wool and a lighter." Karen paused her narration so Bianca could absorb it all.

"It would be asking too much for him to have paid with a credit card, wouldn't it?" Bianca commented once she got her head around it all.

"Yeah. Well. It can't all be handed to you on a plate, can it? And before you ask, no, no one recognised the other guy or called him in," Karen replied before continuing with the rest of the story. "Cash, apparently. We asked for his footage and he said it gets wiped weekly, but as soon as he sees the bloke he'll let us know. In the meantime, we wait; but it seems your hunch was right."

* * *

A vibrating buzz combined with one of the more generic ringtones interrupted the pleasant conversation Bianca and Janet were holding.

"Shit, sorry," Bianca commented, reaching into her purse to switch her phone onto vibrate.

Janet quirked a brow. "Aren't you going to answer that? It might be important."

"If it's really important they will either call again, leave a message or send a text," Bianca replied. "Tell me more about the school you went to," she prompted.

"Which one?"

"Whichever one you want to tell me about."

Janet smiled. "You know I grew up here in Sydney; mum and dad sent me to a prestigious single sex school near…"

Bianca's phone buzzed, and Bianca frowned at it. She fished it out of her purse and put it on silent. "Sorry. Go on. Prestigious school near …"

Chain of thought broken, Janet also frowned. "I thought you said 'If it was really important they will call again'. They called again. Aren't you going to answer it?"

Bianca sighed. "No. I'm not. I'm having a pleasant dinner with you, and I don't want it interrupted. It's just someone from the office. If it was another job, then arguably I would have to answer it; but this taskforce thing, well, it's important, but there's nothing that can't wait another day or so. I wouldn't be here if I couldn't actually spare a couple of hours to have dinner with you," she explained.

"But… don't you… aren't you technically on call?"

"Technically no, besides, Janet, it can wait." Unconvinced, Janet prepared for another offensive to persuade Bianca to take the call. Bianca countered before she could finish drawing breath. "Janet, you're right; it's probably important; it's always important; there's always something clamouring for my attention; your attention. It's likely there always will be. Right now, this job I'm on, yeah, it's important. But the girl? She's already dead. The suspect? We haven't managed to catch him yet – I've got people on the job. Those people presumably know how to do their job, so if they have got him, he'll be either under surveillance or locked up; either way, it can wait. Right now, I'm prioritizing. I'm giving one hundred percent to the most important thing in my life. So. Can you _please_ tell me more about that school you went to?"

* * *

Bianca checked her phone as she walked into the house behind Janet. Five missed calls and a text message. No voicemails. "Bloody hell Danica, what's got your knickers in a knot?" she mumbled under her breath. "Hey if you want to check on the kids I've just gotta make a phone call, okay?" she commented to Janet as she headed out to the atrium while Janet paid the babysitter. She checked the time and decided to text instead; Danica might be asleep already. Her phone lit up almost immediately after she pressed send on the text.

"Hello?"

"Hey Bianca. I've been trying to reach you all night."

"I'm aware," Bianca stated dryly. "What's happened?"

"Oh. Nothing. I just wanted to let you know that I caught up with Karen and she brought me up to speed about the case."

"Uh-huh."

"…. And I wanted to let you know you were right about the service stations." Bianca looked up at the starry night in dismay. _She called five times to tell me this?_

"Thanks Danica."

"Oh, and I'm starting back on those work-ups you asked for."

"That's nice, Dancia." She turned and gently began placing careful punches on the punching bag that was hanging out there with her free hand, softly landing the blows before pushing the bag so it swung away from her, before drawing back and allowing the bag to continue on its slow arc, then repeating the motion.

"I think I'll be able to give you a better picture about what those other two women were doing soon."

"Hmmm." The bag swung slowly towards Bianca, the d-shackle and mounting arm groaning from the movement.

"Well… umm… thanks for the chat."

"Mmm… Any time, Danica," she said without sincerity.

"I better let you go. Bye."

"Bye bye." She took the phone off her ear and pressed end call while letting out a long breath. _I'm going to regret saying that_ she thought as she gave the bag a final parting jab. She turned to go back inside to see Janet leaning up against the doorframe.

"Work?" she enquired.

"Yeah," Bianca snorted with a smirk while shaking her head. She looked at Janet and gave a warm smile. "You ready for bed?"

* * *

"Zoom in there." Andy pointed at the screen at the number plate on an early model Ford Fiesta which Cooper just filled up.

"Way ahead of you, Boss. It didn't really seem like the car a fella like that would drive, not that I'm stereotyping or anything, but the RTA certainly agrees; it's registered to Mr Patrick Phelan, 78-year-old pensioner, address in Auburn. No, it's not stolen. Danica and some uniforms are out there at the moment chasing it up, actually," Karen explained while Bianca watched in the background.

"When was it called in?" Andy asked.

"Time stamp says this was filmed two nights ago; I got the call yesterday morning, we swung around and picked up the footage not long after that; Elliot and Sam went and had a chat to him overnight; seems like he might be a stoner; that's why he buys so much junk food."

Bianca continued on, "We think he's a shift worker locally. I'm a bit worried about this steel wool business. I mean stoners are basically harmless, but if he's getting into meth, that could explain the rape. It might suggest that he's had other substance abuse issues before."

"Explain it not excuse it," Andy cut in.

"Of course." Bianca nodded. She looked at her watch. "We're expecting them to be back soon; hopefully this will be a straight forward open and close case." Both Andy and Karen checked to see if she was joking. "What? I can't be an optimist?"

* * *

"It's his grandfather's car," Danica explained to the rest of the squad. "We asked if it had been stolen, and he said he didn't believe so; his grandson was driving it about because he totalled his ute earlier in the year. We checked the insurance; he received a payout in February this year. There was also a TAC claim – some x-rays, physio treatment, a couple of doctors appointments."

"Was the grandfather able to give us an address for him?" Bianca called from the back of the room.

"Yes!" Danica responded enthusiastically, pointing to Bianca as she spoke. "He lives with the grandparents! Big old five-bedroom weatherboard in Auburn. Seems they bought there in the seventies, and the community changed around them. He works in Smithfield as a storeman, apparently. The grandparents think he's a pretty good boy – wouldn't hurt a fly. Has some cash flow issues sometimes, according the grandmother. They don't use the car themselves, the place is walking distance to shops and public transport. They did mention that they don't see him too much because of his shift work and he just comes and goes." Danica stopped to collect her thoughts, before continuing. "He's only been there about six or seven months; they sort of reconnected about a year ago for reasons unknown."

"All right," Andy spoke when it was apparent Danica was done with her report. "Let's put some people on the house and the work – we have a business name, don't we?" he asked Danica, who shook her head 'No'. "Ahhh," Andy changed tactics, his chain of thought broken. "Surveillance on the house, let's see if we can track him down. Eyes only – if he's really on meth he might be unpredictable. We don't want any incidents. Bianca, you're with me. Everyone else, pair off as normal. Let's get this guy, let's get him fast. Bianca, I'd like to see you in my office. Everyone else? Dismissed."

"It's not performance review time, but you have been working with them for almost six months. I'd like another pair of eyes for how they're tracking. I'll have to submit a report for the whole taskforce, but as the most senior member here, I think you should have an input on it all." Andy revealed to Bianca, while twiddling a pen around in his hand.

"You'll have to write one on me as well, and I'll have to write one on you when we close off on this taskforce," Bianca responded.

"Yeah, I know. It will all be favourable, of course; I hope mine will be the same," Andy confirmed, earnest look on his face.

Bianca's lip twitched with amusement. Janet would be pleased to know she had her very own golf buddy now. "Mhmmm" she agreed.

"So what's your feel on the taskforce? My guys and the other two? I mean, you've been working pretty closely with them all." Pen in hand, Andy keenly waited for Bianca's answer.

"Nothing negative for most of them – Kon and Karen are outstanding; Elliot is on track – about what I'd expect for someone his age and rank. I haven't worked too much with Sam; I mean, I got her to do some stuff, and I haven't worked with that other fellow of yours at all; what's his name?"

"Blake."

"I haven't worked with Blake at all."

Andy nodded. "And Danica?"

Bianca had a feeling that this conversation was always going to be about Danica. She sighed heavily, rallying her thoughts about the young woman. "How long has she been on the force?"

"Almost four years now."

"Did you choose her for this taskforce?"

"Not really; I wanted someone from sex crimes, but Fred was being a prick and he just gave me Danica. I haven't been waiting for an excuse to get rid of her so much, I mean she should have potential, but…" he let the sentence trail off without accusing Danica of anything.

"She isn't really… thorough." It was difficult for Bianca to provide positive feedback when the other detectives were doing such a good job. "She still needs a lot of guidance, and she doesn't really take initiative." She chewed on the inside of her cheek, trying to come up with some more constructive criticisms, but falling short.

"Okay, that's what I thought. I'll make sure Karen is with her, but if she steps out of line I'm getting rid of her. It seems with Blake on the sidelines we still have enough people if we let go of Danica. What's your feel?"

"Yeah, I'll try spend a bit more time with her as well, try to bring her up to speed,"

Andy cut in, "That's not your job, mate. AFP are too expensive to have training our junior officers. You just keep doing your thing and we'll see how she goes, okay?"

* * *

Bianca turned the page on the paper before looking up to make sure the twins weren't getting into trouble. Satisfied they were entertained, she turned her attention back to the paper where the Sunday spread drew her attention. It was a two page pictorial outlining the known details of the Oliver Smith murder trial. It was touted as one of the trials of the decade. She glanced at each diagram, only mildly interested, before turning the page. The article went on to detail the defence and the prosecution team, a third of a page on each, complete with photographs of each team member leaving court. As she went to turn the page, a photo of Janet striding towards the camera in billowing black robes and her court wig made Bianca stop and flick back to the paragraph featuring the prosecuting team.

'A three person prosecuting team headed by senior crown prosecutor Janet King will lead the trial on the Smith case; Ms. King, who recently led a royal commission into gun crime will be backed by Owen Mitchell, former detective turned barrister, and Erin O'Shaughnessy, solicitor advocate whose career has included successfully placing some of New South Wales' most dangerous bikies behind bars. Ms King, herself no stranger to crime, was also a victim of violence against women; her partner was murdered as part of an intricate revenge plot due to…'

Bianca stopped reading and turned back to the two page spread detailing the Smith murder. Before she looked at the pictures again she looked up at the kids once more. Still distracted. She took sip of her tea and focused on deciphering the story the diagrams were telling.

From the sketches, she ascertained that in the pre-dawn hours late last year; Oliver Smith woke his son up, drove him across town, stopped on the harbour bridge and threw the child to his death in the murky waters below. As the tide was going out, the little boy's body disappeared in the wash. No-one saw the boy fall. He then went home and waited for his de-facto girlfriend to arrive home from morning shift at the hospital. Police were called to the house to locate Rebecca Jarett and her son two days after these incidents when the school reported James had not gone to school for several days; they were unable to elicit a response the first day they visited, and returned the next day to try again. When the uniformed officers called this into the station, they were informed that a boy matching James Jarrett's description was recovered from the bay; they forcefully entered the property where they discovered one of the most horrific scenes encountered in NSW police history. The bedroom door was barricaded, and required force to enter; Rebecca's body was tied naked and spreadeagled on the bed; it looked like she had been tortured. The mutilated body lay pooled in thick crusts of dried blood. The blood had seeped through the mattress, dull burgundy brown staining the carpeting some distance from the bed. In the bathroom they found Oliver Smith unconscious, apparently from a drug overdose; his wrists had also been slashed. Captions beside each picture gave details to the crime; these were all facts which had been presented in the pre-trial hearing Friday morning; defence intended on arguing incapacitation by means of mental illness.

The article went on to discuss the known reasons for Oliver Smith's actions. A crime of passion, he discovered earlier in the week that Rebecca had been flirting with a co-worker; unable to contain his jealousy, he decided to take it out on Rebecca and their child. The defence intended back up their argument of mental imparimnet by means of depressive psychosis; the article went on to discuss the bail hearing and the upcoming trial dates.

Bianca looked up at the children, who were still playing contentedly, before she went to make a cup of coffee for Janet, who she heard stirring upstairs. By the time Janet entered the kitchen, Bianca had a bowl of fresh fruit salad, some yoghurt and a coffee for her lover.

"What time is it?" Janet asked as she hit the last step.

Bianca glanced at her watch. "Almost ten."

"Did you turn my alarm clock off?"

"Yeah. You looked like you needed the sleep – I checked your calendar first; I hope you don't mind."

"I thought the kids would have woken me up," Janet commented, glancing towards the children who were playing quietly in the middle of the living room. "What are they doing?"

"Oh, they wanted to wake you up. I didn't let them though. I got some Legos from gumtree and printed out some instructions. I think they are building a space ship. We've been up for at least three hours – we went up the street to buy a paper as well." Bianca motioned to the table where she had the Smith pictorial spread open. "I made you a coffee. And some salad."

"Thanks B. Where's yours?"

"I had some already, although the kids might want some." She raised her voice and called to them. "Liam, Emma, do you want some fruit?"

"No!" came the chorus back. Bianca tilted her head at Janet and smiled while she seated herself back in front of the paper with a fresh cup of tea.

"There's an article on you here as well."

"Huh."

"I didn't bother to read it all, but do you think you'll have to work back now? You should have told me about this case. I can't guarantee that I can pick them up every day at 3:30, you know."

Janet dragged the paper towards her as she speared a piece of cantaloupe. "Anyone else would have plied me for information on this case you know," she said as she scanned over the headline and the pictorials.

Bianca shrugged nonchalantly.

Janet continued. "I've organised for them to go into after school care. I should be able to get there by six – this place runs until six thirty, and if I can't get there or you can't get there, I think I can convince Tony to pick them up."

"Sounds like a plan. Hey, it's a pretty nice day out there. Did you want to go to the beach? We can put those swimming lessons to good use." Bianca paused. "I've never asked. Can you swim?"


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10 - The Chase**

A word of caution - there is a lot of strong language in this chapter. As always, a big thank you to Duffie 83 for reviewing. A suggestion to my readers; if you want more chapters, add some reviews. If you;re happy with the current pace of delivery, keep going as you are. I will sit on chapters until I'm convinced people are reading. Cheers.

* * *

Andy and Bianca sat quietly in Bianca's car close to the entrance of TruckSales, Smithfield.

Located in an industrial complex, the area was awash with trucks, high vis clothing and beaten up mid-nineties cars. They were waiting for Cooper to show up for the evening shift; Danica and Kon found the address by simply following Cooper when he left for work one morning earlier that week; they tailed him for an hour and fifteen through heavy traffic, almost losing him twice; it was Danica's reasoning that, based on Bianca's profile, if he worked in the west, they would be able to continue on the freeway until they either saw his car again or travelled too far, after which they could try again the next day. Her reasoning paid off, as she spotted his car with its left indicator on, merging for the turn off. They had parked the car some distance away, guessing which factory he worked in, and kept watch to make sure they guessed correctly. After four hours and several quick trips around the block, Danica and Kon watched a steady stream of workers exit for morning smoko; Kon spotted Cooper as he exited the milk bar holding a chocolate Big M, the two of them observed as he ducked into an alleyway. They decided, after all workers returned from their break, that they had seen enough, and went to discuss Cooper Long with the lady at the front desk. She had looked up Cooper's roster before calling his supervisor, a surly man in his sixties, down to chat with them. The supervisor had not been too surprised the police were looking for Cooper; while he was an adequate storeman, he was not renowned for his clean living. It was common knowledge around the workshop that several workers slipped around the side to get high several times a day. He advised them the best time to come back to speak to Cooper, and bid them farewell.

"So this bloke's a storeman not a tradie?" Andy asked, looking at his watch.

"Yeah. Something along the lines of storeman. I think they said he finished his second year apprenticeship but that's it. This joint runs 24-7, and he's on a rolling roster, and today's his first evening shift. We should be able to grab him as he comes in." Bianca glanced down, checking her phone for messages, before reaching over to her glove box and extracting a pair of binoculars. "The entrance is just over there," she raised the binoculars, searching for the entrance where Danica, Kon, and a third person she presumed was Cooper's supervisor stood waiting.

"Here we go," Andy said just as the CB crackled to life, Elliot announced that Cooper had been spotted and was on his way into the compound.

Bianca raised the binoculars again, keeping them trained on the three people at the entrance of the factory.

"Hey. Give those to me. Makes more sense we have to drive off quickly," Andy demanded, resulting in a roll of the eyes from Bianca as she brought the binoculars down. "Hurry up!" he tapped her on the arm, trying to make her give them to him faster.

Bianca handed them across, searching for Cooper amongst the small crowd of men. "Are you a middle child or something?" she quipped, irritated. "I mean, I know you're short, but that can't be all there is to it."

Shooting her a withering look, Andy took the glasses from her, squinting to check which target he was going to focus on before raising them and fiddling with the focal wheel until Danica and Kon came clearly into his line of sight.

"Contact," he mumbled as Cooper paused in front of the two detectives. "Crap. He's making a run for it."

Bianca leaned forward and placed her hand on the key in the ignition. She could see it play out as well; the distance was not so great that she couldn't see Cooper land a punch on Kon, knocking him over, spin back around the way he came, throw his backpack behind him and break out into a sprint. Danica launched after him in hot pursuit, Kon scrambling behind them, trying to catch up. Bianca turned the key, the Commodore rumbling to life without hesitation. She leaned over the steering wheel, draping her forearms over it, watching the chase between predator and prey. Danica was eating up the pavement rapidly, anticipating his twists and turns, hurdling over bins and dodging tradesmen with the elegance of a gazelle. She had almost caught up to him when Elliot launched himself from behind a structure, trying to catch Cooper in a tackle, causing Cooper to change direction to avoid capture. This time, Danica had more trouble following, losing some ground, but still leaving Kon and Elliot in the dirt behind her.

"She's quick, isn't she? Five minute mile. Gotta be. She's gonna get him," impressed, Bianca provided a play by play commentary while Andy kept his binoculars trained on the supervisor, who had picked up the abandoned backpack and was rifling through it.

"Pow! Oh Yeah! That's it!" Bianca exclaimed, clearly surprised by something as she turned the ignition back to off.

"They got him? Great," Andy was still watching the supervisor, who had pocketed something from the backpack. Andy spoke into the CB. "Can one of you go back and ask the supervisor to return what he took from Cooper's backpack? Otherwise he can come for a ride to the station as well." He finally lowered the binoculars, and Bianca pointed to where Danica was kneeling on Cooper's back, cuffing him. "What happened there?"

"Apparently Karen is a linebacker or something, because she was lurking over there and launched this god almighty shoulder charge, dropping Cooper like a sack of shit," Bianca motioned towards where Karen had been waiting. "I barely saw it coming. Look at her. Not a scratch. She didn't even go to ground with him. Just sort of bounced off Cooper and back onto her feet. Amazing."

Kon and Elliot had only just managed to make it to the rest of the group. Kon was limping slightly.

"Make sure you pick up his backpack as well," Andy spoke into the radio. "We'll meet you back at the station."

* * *

"Were you two on the football team or something?" Bianca asked the two women as they all entered the communal office after leaving Cooper to sweat in the interview room.

"Little aths, actually," Danica corrected.

"Yup. I played footy," Karen confirmed.

"You boys didn't do sports?" Bianca looked over her shoulder at the detectives following behind her.

"I tripped on the bloody bin," Kon moaned as he limped in behind the three of them. "Besides, it's not my fault she's part greyhound" he lamented, motioning towards Danica before examining his palms and picking gravel out from under the skin. "She didn't have to deal with him slugging her, either," he continued, obviously displeased with the outcome. "My knee hurts."

"Wah wah wah. Suck it up Kon," Elliot jibed good naturedly. "It's no one's fault but your own that you're a twinkle-toes."

"All right, all right," Andy interrupted as he entered the office. "Who's doing the interview?" he pointed at Kon, who shook his head and pointed to his wrist and skinned hand. "You?" he pointed at Karen, who shrugged somewhat indifferently.

"I'll do it." Danica volunteered. "I mean, me and Elliot went to pick him up to begin with, and we spoke to the grandfather. We're best positioned for it."

"Okay. Let's get to it."

* * *

"Mr Cooper Long. Can I confirm you are Cooper Long?" Elliot led the questioning.

Cooper, sitting arms crossed, slumped back in the chair, nodded begrudgingly.

"Mate, can I ask why you slugged my colleague? I mean, he just wanted to ask some questions. You hadn't done anything wrong." Elliot paused and stood, stretching and moving behind the chair, pacing towards the two-way mirror before turning and leaning his back up against it. "Had you?" he questioned. When Cooper didn't respond, Elliot continued. "But now. Now, you've gone and assaulted a police officer. And that's why we had to arrest you," Elliot stated slowly and sternly, as if speaking to a simpleton. "We're going to have a very long chat. I'm going to find out everything about you now, from the colour of your undies you're wearing now to what your mum had for breakfast the day you were born. If you're lucky, after that chat, you get to leave." He drew a sharp breath between his teeth, allowing the air to hiss as he did so.

* * *

Several long hours of interviewing later, Elliot ascertained Cooper was forty years old, unqualified, and a heavy pot smoker. They eventually determined that he arranged for a mate to total the ute for him so he could collect an insurance payout, however, as both he and the friend he had organised the deal with were high while executing the mission, it had failed dismally, resulting in injuries for both parties. They still obtained the payout, however, also endured some physical injuries as a result of the ensuing accident. They switched interviewers, allowing Danica to take over.

Danica determined that Cooper did not own a passport, and had never left the country. He dropped out of high school at year ten, choosing to drift in and out of cash-only jobs, only attempting to pursue a trade in his late twenties and dropping out before completion. He had no children, and spent a considerable amount of time interstate without a fixed address or licence. He liked to have a pot and a punt, and actually purchased the steel wool to polish the acrylic sheeting he used to make wind chimes. After he wasted half an hour explaining how he made each wind chime, but before he could begin to explain the process of selling the wind chimes, Danica cut him off in exasperation.

"This isn't getting anywhere," Bianca sighed in frustration from behind the mirror. "How about we lock him up for a little while and have a think about how we can place him with those girls? I mean… He fits the bill," she raised her hand, ready to tick off each item as she listed them. "Ute. Uneducated. Strong," Bianca paused, thinking about how easily Karen had knocked him down. Perhaps he wasn't that strong; it was, however, possible that small, diminutive Karen was a pocket rocket that was underestimated by everyone. Andy was right to horde her skills in homicide. "Ish. Strongish. Maybe. Right place, right time. We can DNA test him… or fingerprint him, I guess. What's the turnaround time? One, maybe two days?"

"We can fast track it and get a result in a day, and we have enough circumstantial evidence to hold him until we know more. We aren't going to get too much out of him; I mean, look at him." Andy gestured into the room, where Cooper's eyes had drifted shut and his torso slumped to the side. "He's out of it. Let's process him and get him in a cell."

* * *

"You're joking," Andy said with dismay.

"Nope. It says right here. No match."

Andy gaped at Bianca. The rest of the detectives had made themselves scarce, leaving her to break the news to the boss.

"But it does say he was busted for possession in Darwin when he was twenty," she added helpfully.

"Not helpful," he growled at her.

"I'm just as upset as you," she informed him. "Women just deal with it better. Do you want to charge him for clobbering Kon or are you happy to let him go?"

Andy took a deep breath, scrunched his eyes closed, and exhaled, "Cut him loose."

* * *

Blinking in the mid-morning sunshine, Cooper began walking towards the nearest train station. His car was still at work, but he had his backpack, wallet and phone. His phone had run out of batteries, but luckily, he also had a charger in his backpack. He caught a train from Parramatta station into Central, where he got off and walked half an hour towards Kings Cross. He could have caught a train, but he was bored and wanted to check in on a few watering holes to determine if there was someone there he could chat to. He stopped at a McDonalds, ordering a happy meal and a soft serve cone. He charged his phone, an old Nokia, while he ate his burger, waiting for it to reach a usable battery status. After powering the phone up, he packed up his power cord and continued on his journey. Undecided as to how he should spend his afternoon, he decided to continue walking towards the harbour, until he reached the glittering water at Potts Point. He walked along the shoreline until he found a park bench, at which time he pulled out a joint he had bought while walking and lit up, promptly getting baked and falling asleep.

Several hours later, Cooper woke sunburnt and thirsty. He scratched himself, his head first, then his genitals, trying to determine what it was that woke him up. He squinted up at the sun, before a piercing, obnoxious tone sounded from his pocket. He swallowed dryly and swished his tongue around his mouth, trying to remove the furry feeling from his teeth. Retrieving the ringing phone, he pressed the little green phone symbol on the keypad.

"Hello?"

"Coop! How ya been mate?"

"Allright. Who's this again?"

An exasperated sound came over the phone. "It's Gav, mate."

"Hey, Gav. What's up?"

"Ya wanna have a beer?"

"Alright."

"Are you working today? What time you off?"

"Nah. Had a cunt of a day. I could meet you in a halfie if you want. I'm just over at Potts Point."

"Yeah. You got any gear?"

"Might be able to get you some. How much you want?"

"Coupla grams?"

"Give us an hour."

"Righto."

Cooper hung up as he stood, scrolling through his phone for another number. He had a call to make.

* * *

"Steady on, mate," the bartender stated disapprovingly at the way Cooper banged his half empty pot of beer onto the bar, causing some to slosh out.

"Yeah, fuck off," came the caustic response.

Cooper just lost five hundred dollars on race five, after a sure-fire tip went awry; the horse that was tipped to win had been scratched, and he didn't find out about it until after he made the bet and was watching the race at the pub.

"Coops."

"Whaddaya want?" he snarled at the interruption, uncharacteristically alert.

"Hey. Calm down buddy. It's your old mate, Gav."

Cooper did indeed calm down. He was about to make back some of the five hundred he just lost; he had two grams of crystal meth tucked into the waist band of his underwear, and was about to sell it to Gavin for a profit. They went into the bathroom to complete the transaction before retreating into a corner with two full pints of beer and some chips.

"This isn't your usual afternoon off, Coop. I wasn't expecting you to hook me up so soon. What gives?" Gavin took a drink from his glass, wincing with pleasure as the icy cold beverage made him wheeze slightly.

"Fucking cops," Cooper stated before taking a sip of his own beer. "Yesterday arvo, on my way into work, minding my own business, they fucking come by the factory and I get fucking chased down by this tall blonde bird, then knocked on my arse by this other copper." He neglected to mention that the officer who knocked him down was a small Asian woman. "So I thought I was gonna get fucked for dealing. Luckily I wasn't carrying anything,"

"Not even weed?"

"Yeah, nah. I smoked it all that morning." He patted himself down, looking for cigarettes, before pulling a lighter from his pocket. He paused, trying to remember if he had any cigarettes, and where they were. "Where are me fags?" he mumbled to himself. Gavin twisted around, turning his attention to the trots playing on the telly in the corner.

Cooper finally remembered where he had placed the packet earlier. Reaching down to his backpack, he retrieved a crumpled packet and extracted a cigarette, lighting it and checking if the joint he placed in there earlier was still there.

Taking a deep drag, he continued his narration of his recent brush with the law. "So these pricks are asking me all these bullshit questions, where I live, what I do, all this bullshit stuff. Askin' if I remember where I was at certain times. Fuckin can't even remember what I had for brekkie the other day." He sucked on the end of his cigarette, squinting through the smoke, the ember glowing brightly and crackling as it burnt down. He laughed and blew a stream of smoke out of his nostrils and mouth at the same time.

"So what were they after then?" Gavin was still watching the race, but he was listening to Cooper. If they nabbed him for dealing, they might still be watching them, and with two grams of meth in his pocket, he was going to be in for a world of pain.

"Uhhh… fucked if I know. Stupid fuckers kept me there all night. No fuckin' phone call or anythin'. Was worried I was gonna get bumfucked," he commented as he flicked the ash off the end of his cigarette onto the floor.

"Let me get this straight. You had all night to think about why these pigs were after you and all you could think of was some dick in ass action? You're a fucking poofter," Gavin goaded Cooper.

"Fuck off. I dunno," Cooper took a sip of beer, mentally running through the various questions the detectives had asked him. He went to take another sip before pausing, his memory clarifying around a question the blonde detective had asked. "Some stupid bitch getting raped or some shit."

Gavin's eyes narrowed to slits, and his head whipped around so he was facing Cooper. "What?"

"Fuck, I dunno. They kept rabbiting on about some stupid bitch they found in the bush somewhere, or raped somewhere, or something."

"When?"

"Shit mate, who fucking cares?" Cooper lifted his glass, draining nearly half before putting it back down and chasing it with another drag of his cigarette.

Gavin took a deep breath, trying to calm down. He was about to ask Cooper to _try harder to remember_ before contemplating the situation that he was in. They weren't after him, and it was good to know they weren't chasing Cooper for dealing, but deeply concerning that they were following up on the girl. He stared at his beer, pondering his next move; if they were still following Cooper, they might be watching them now. They might have seen him buy the drugs. They might bust Cooper again. He thought about the drugs in his pocket. Best course of action would be to lie low for a bit. He took his phone out and checked it, before turning it off.

"Look, Coop, something's come up. I gotta split." He drained his beer quickly and walked out the door, Cooper waving him off before lighting another cigarette and turning his attention to the trots still playing on the screen behind him, his drinking companion already forgotten.

* * *

"Have I done something to upset you?" Brash in demeanour and never one to shy away from the truth, Danica demanded an explanation for Bianca's behaviour after Cooper was released.

"Ah. No, nothing exactly. I've been busy working on something."

While this wasn't a lie, Bianca's response could definitely be classed as circumlocution. Not quite satisfied with her answer, Danica went over to Bianca's desk, and when Bianca looked up at her, she launched her question.

"If that was true you wouldn't be avoiding me. You either don't like me, or I've done something to upset you. Last few weeks, you've changed. If it's something I've done, I want to fix it," Danica said earnestly. Internally, Bianca blanched. She was trying to make heads or tails of the summary Danica and Karen provided for Brennan and Cameron. Sketchy at best, she hadn't wanted to re-do all the work herself; she'd successfully avoided doing that as they had suspects to question and chase down, but now with their last lead dead in the water, she was potentially faced with starting from scratch; if she was going to commit to that volume of work, she wanted it done correctly and that meant doing it herself.

"I don't have any time right this second to go through it with you…" Bianca started.

"Give me a time;" Danica cut in. "Today. Tomorrow. After work. Whatever."

Bianca checked her watch before locking eyes with Danica's earnest, big brown puppy like eyes. "I can go through it with you after I'm finished here," she stated glumly.

"Here?" Danica said excitedly. "Or we could have a chat over drinks?"

Bianca silently cursed, mentally kicking herself for managing to trap herself into this situation. "We could do that. It'll have to be quick though. I have to pick up the…" she paused. "Let me make a call, and I'll confirm with you. Okay?"

* * *

"I don't understand what you're saying. I've done everything I was taught at the academy and no-one's complained before." Danica leaned up against the bar, facing Bianca. She had her hand on one of the bottles of cider in front of them, and Bianca was waiting for her change. When the bartender placed the bills in her hand, she picked up her bottle and they headed towards a pair of empty couches against one side of the wall. A two player Galaga served as a table between the couches. Bianca waited for Danica to sit before taking the opposite couch. Bianca picked up the conversation where they left off at the bar.

"No one's complaining now. You asked me for career enhancing advice; perhaps career saving advice; I'm not sure what you want to call it. I'm just telling you, from what I've observed over the last six months working with you, you have to pick up your attention to detail, and pay attention more. Take a bit of initiative. You're mostly doing all right; but you're the same rank as Karen, and I'd say she's doing a lot better than you at the moment; she's bright, and unless I was mistaken, next round of promotions, she's going to get upgraded."

"Bloody Asians," Danica muttered under her breath.

"I'm sorry?" Bianca queried, both eyebrows lifting. It was blatant racism, but Danica could just as easily pass it off as a joke.

"Joking."

Bianca's eyebrows dropped and she pursed her lips. It was amazing that in this day and age such 'jokes' still occurred.

"Anyway, yeah. Thanks for telling me this stuff. No one's ever brought it up before."

Bianca nodded in acknowledgement. "No worries." She was careful not to add _'Anytime'._

"Another?" Danica queried, before going for a second round. She returned shortly, but instead of returning to her seat, she sat beside Bianca, so close that their legs touched, before handing a bottle to the other woman.

Bianca took the cider, thanking Danica for it, before taking a sip. They sat in silence for a while before Bianca shifted to a more comfortable position, pushing herself deep into the corner of the couch and bending one leg up to rest between the two if them, effectively manoeuvring herself away from Danica and using her leg as a shield. She began to fiddle with the label on the bottle, picking at one corner until it lifted, then trying to peel it off in one piece, before asking, "Why did you join the academy?"

Danica mirrored Bianca's pose, adding to the distance between them. "I guess I got caught up in all those TV dramas. You know. Law and Order, Law and Order SVU, Law and Order Criminal Intent…"

Bianca grinned. "I get the picture. You like Law and Order. It's a little different, isn't it?"

"There's a lot more paperwork than on the shows."

Bianca smiled warmly. Keeping on top of paperwork was painful no matter what field of work you were in. Computers didn't really eliminate paper, despite what they were all told in the mid-nineties.

"What made you want to become a copper?" Danica asked.

"Hmm… You know, I can't really remember," Bianca answered evasively.

"Surely not. I think you can," Danica prompted. "For me?" she rested her hand on Bianca's knee. A tension crackled between them, and Bianca glanced down at Danica's hand. She did not move, or acknowledge the caress. When she looked back up, Danica smiled boldly, before lifting her cider and taking a drink.

"Who wouldn't want all this?" It was one of the vaguest answers Bianca had ever given; as vague as any answer she ever gave when she worked undercover. Bianca balled up the damp paper and flicked it onto the Galaga machine, before trying to steer the conversation back to work. "Anyway, as I was saying, you really have to apply yourself some more. Good police work isn't about glamour and accolades, it's about persistent hard work and attention to detail."

She put her cider down on the table, waiting for Danica to remove her hand. When Danica began to caress her knee, she stated, "Danica, stop."

The smile dropped from Danica's face, replaced by a look of anxiety. "I'm sorry, I thought…"

"Look, I gotta go," Bianca announced while standing up. "Thanks for the drink," she pursed her lips, bringing her hand up to her mouth, trying to decide if she needed to say anything else. She shook her head, vexed at the pass Danica made. "I'll see you tomorrow, OK?" With that, Bianca stepped over Danica's legs and left the pub.

* * *

"Mmmm, wine," Janet snaked her arm around Bianca's body, snagging the glass for herself and taking a sip. "Merlot. One of my favourites. Is this the bottle I had opened the other day?"

Lost in her thoughts, Bianca hummed in agreement.

"How was your day? Why did you have to stay late? Tony had a fun time with the kids, but we're gonna have to get him a pretty big Christmas pressie at this rate."

"Uhh… okay. Usual work stuff. Back at square one," Bianca said obliquely.

"Do you want to hear about my day? I had a pretty good one," Janet purred, placing the glass down in front of her lover before stroking over her belly and nuzzling softly into Bianca's neck, nibbling up and softly sucking on her earlobe. Bianca turned and placed her hands onto Janet's hips, holding her at arm's length, before leaning in and placing a chaste kiss on Janet's lips.

"Can I take a raincheck?"

Janet made a small noise of disappointment, confusion on her face.

"Sorry babe, my head's just not in the game today, and I'm not feeling great."

Janet carefully examined Bianca. "All right," she leaned in for a longer kiss, before smiling. "You're off the hook today." Bianca smiled as well. "But I'm taking the rest of this wine," Janet declared as she took the glass and retreated upstairs.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11 – Suspicious minds**

It's been a bit of a wait but finally an update!

* * *

It was the first break Janet had all morning; she spent the early hours running through the evidence Erin had garnered on the Smith case, then being briefed for court by Jessica, before rushing off to court for the first of three appearances she had that day. Tony was either punishing her or rewarding her for something; she couldn't quite work out which it was supposed to be.

Retrieving the sandwich from her tote, she unwrapped it and took a bite. Some sort of salami, cheese and salad concoction. She chewed slowly while absently leafing through the Smith files Erin had left on her desk, looking without actually looking. She took another bite of the sandwich, her thoughts drifting back to the phone call she received from Bianca some time after lunch the previous day.

" _Hey, um. I hate to do this to you, but I can't pick the kids up tonight."_

" _That's okay. I can organise someone."_

" _Yeah. Thanks. Something's come up and I can't really get out of it."_

" _Bianca, it's fine. Don't worry about it."_

" _I feel really bad, just…"_

 _Janet cut her off. "Darling, it's no drama. You've given me plenty of notice, so it's fine. I'll see you tonight, okay?" Just then, Tony walked past with his hand held high, finger tapping on his wristwatch. "Sorry, I gotta go, work calls. See you tonight."_

The call, now that she thought about it, was a little odd. Bianca normally didn't obsess so much about changing plans; she was definitely a woman who rolled with the punches; it was one of the reasons she worked so well with the twins, one of the reasons Janet liked her so much. It was normally her that became upset when schedules were altered.

Janet looked at the sandwich in her hand, hovering midway between her mouth and her desk. She quickly took another bite and put it down on the table. They had been dating for over a year now; this was the first time Bianca expressed such oddly uncharacteristic behaviour. She looked both nervous and unsettled last night, and, now Janet was focussing on the subject, incredibly unusual for Bianca to be drinking by herself; she was normally a social drinker only, preferring non-alcoholic beverages to alcoholic ones.

Puzzled, Janet poured herself a glass of water, trying to make head or tails of it. She thought about Bianca's raincheck the night before; that was unusual, but it was difficult to know how out of character that was; it was possible this was due to them reaching the next stage in their relationship, but there was a chance that it could be due to something else. Janet contemplated the conversation she overheard in the atrium, after their night out. Bianca said she didn't want to answer the phone because she was more important, but, tying that conversation together with the snippets of late night conversations she overheard over the last few months…

"No. It can't be," she spoke to an empty office, appetite gone. "It absolutely can't." A clammy coldness prickled across her skin and a heavy weight settled within her gut, while her unfocused gaze rested blankly on the bookshelf opposite her desk as she mentally went through every half conversation of Bianca's she had listened to over the last few weeks. It didn't make sense; Bianca was so attentive otherwise. She was slightly distracted lately, but not significantly so. Janet's lower lip trembled as her eyes became pink rimmed and she blinked away tears. She took a deep breath and mechanically packed up the rest of her lunch, occupying her shaking hands so she could focus on something else. She knew she wasn't an investigator, and she _might_ be _slightly_ subjective, but all evidence was pointing to one thing.

A light rapping on the doorframe sounded, and Erin poked her head in. "Janet, you ready for your two o clock?"

Glad she was still rummaging around in her bag, she took a deep shuddering breath, and as she sat back up, a cold, neutral look slipped over her features, masking any internal turmoil she was feeling. "Yes, I'll be with you in a minute," she responded. Glad for her compartmentalisation abilities, she gathered her things together and prepared for their meeting.

* * *

"They can't honestly think temporary insanity is a good defence strategy."

Janet and Erin were debriefing after their meeting with the defence team, walking and chatting about the meeting they were leaving from. Rhys Kowalski, one of the best defence QC's in Sydney, a firm believer in a fair trial for all, was running the case. His confidence in the mental incapacitation through temporary insanity defence astounded Janet; she had not worked too much with him during his secondment to the DPP, but she knew Erin had worked closely with him for almost half a year while prosecuting the 'Bolt cutter babes' case. In a drunken confession, Erin had revealed that she had ambushed Rhys in a very similar manner to which she herself had been ambushed.

"Erin, how many clinical psychologists do we have on our expert witness panel?"

"We have four provided to the crown, and I've sourced two independent psychologists. They're all saying the same thing."

"Rhys doesn't have a case does he?"

"No, I really don't think so. There hasn't been a precedent I've found regarding mental illness or temporary insanity – I've spent countless hours checking for that defence both here and interstate, both at state and Commonwealth level."

The two women continued to walk, heading back towards their office building.

Janet spoke again. "Who is our police liaison for this? I have to keep asking now Andy has that promotion."

"That would be Sergeant Dylan Peters. I can request a meeting with him if you like?"

"Not yet. I want to go over the interviews again. There might be something we've missed. I can't imagine what Rhys has up his sleeve, and that annoys me." They swiped into the office building, and Janet made a beeline to her office. "One last thing, Erin," she asked before disappearing into her office. "Can you get me any footage from the bridge?" Erin nodded. "Thanks."

* * *

Across town, Bianca was having issues with her own case. The state police commissioner was leaning on Andy for results, and, as an incentive, had reduced his resources. Until Andy came up with a strategy to circumvent the system, Bianca was left manning the fort.

Bianca looked over their whiteboard, where all the photos and other information was located. Annoyed, she glanced at the photo of the final suspect they identified from the CCTV footage.

"Maybe we're barking up the wrong tree," she said to nobody in particular.

She itched the side of her face with the palm of her hand, before turning to her desk and pulling up the incomplete files Danica and Karen left for her. She flicked through it, trying to decide if it was worth salvaging any of it. After some consideration, she decided that it wasn't worth it. She stood and walked the file to Danica's desk, placing it in the corner, where it could be easily forgotten. Back at her own desk, she ripped two sheets of paper out of her notepad. On the top of one, she wrote '2005', and on the top of the second, she wrote '2013'.

She sat down, and began to jot dot-points on the page titled '2013'.

* * *

"Thank you so much for speaking with me."

Bianca sat on the couch opposite John Brennan. She contacted him earlier that week, explaining the purpose of her call, apologising for bringing it up and requesting a meeting with him. Initially reluctant, John finally agreed when Bianca carefully explained that this was a solid chance for him to achieve closure for this case; the push for results in the Latif murder and the link between the three cases, combined with federal resources meant that his wife's murder investigation would receive the investigation that it actually deserved.

"I have information from your previous statements on file about what happened on the day of your wife's murder." Bianca inwardly cringed. She hadn't yet come up with a 'softly softly' approach for these conversations. John nodded. "I was hoping you could tell me a bit about your wife?"

Confused, John drew his eyebrows in. "I'm not sure how this is going to help?" His mannerisms, while originally tentative and almost mousy, became guarded. Bianca watched as he mentally shored himself up, his mouth forming a hard line.

Bianca nodded. She expected some hostility, and for him to ask this sort of question, and she had prepared an answer.

"At this stage in time the NSW police have exhausted most of the leads in the Latif case." John leaned back and crossed his arms angrily, frustration at the police force radiating from his being.

"As there is a connection between that case and your wife's, we are now attempting to follow all leads from your wife's case which may result in an arrest or another positive outcome." Bianca leaned forward in her seat, and resettled her hands on her thighs before continuing.

"The circumstances around your wife's death, while investigated thoroughly at the time, were not able to result in any useful information. Now, with additional resources and fresh eyes, the NSW police believe we may be able to further the investigation into your wife's death, and in turn, the Latif case." She paused for effect, noting a glimmer of hope flash in his eyes.

"Mr Brennan, it may be possible that with your help, we might be able to apprehend the killer."

John uncrossed his arms as he slumped into his chair. It was a lot to take in, and he didn't really want to open these wounds. He closed his eyes and took a deep trying to rally his thoughts. It still hurt to think about her, and he thought about her every day. Would it hurt more, knowing this woman was digging though the files again? If the found the person who did this, would it ease the pain? He wasn't sure. He exhaled slowly and opened his eyes. "Are you sure you will get him?"

"Mr. Brennan, we can't really be sure of anything. All we can do is try our best. Without your help, our best still wont be good enough to catch this guy, but with your help, it might be."

John sighed heavily. The way Bianca explained it made it seem so simple. Logical. Like child's play. "All right. What do you want to know?"

It was what Bianca was waiting for. She started to explain her requirements and the thinking behind them. "I want to get an idea of what your lives were like, not just a snapshot though. I want you to paint me a landscape, a tapestry of your lives in the year leading up to the event. I want to understand everything about your routine, your reasoning's, your lifestyles." She paused for breath, and checked to make sure John understood what she was after. A confused look greeted her, so she continued. "For example, if I was a close friend or relative, and I wanted to come visit you at 5.15pm on a Wednesday night, I would know that…"

"You would have to wait until 5.45 to call the home phone because we wouldn't be back from football yet." John finished for her, and Bianca nodded her approval.

"I would know that, and if you changed plans, why you changed them and what you changed them to, either by reasoning or because you had told me."

John nodded in agreement and began to tell Bianca about their lives.

* * *

A new timeline with summaries adorned the wall behind Bianca's desk; this one outlined the general activities in the Brennan household in the months leading up to Sarah's death. Sarah played tennis on Tuesday nights, did the grocery shopping on Thursday nights, and they went to church as a family on Sunday mornings. She dropped the kids to swimming and football practice on Monday and Wednesday nights respectively; the couple kept Friday and Saturday free just in case there were any birthdays, anniversaries, or other such items that required some form of celebration.

They were planning a holiday to Bali at the end of the year, and had finished renovations on the bathroom and kitchen approximately four months prior to the murder. Occasionally, for one reason or another, when neither Sarah nor John could pick their son up from football practice, the coach would drop the boy home. Below the timeline summary, Bianca had GPS data with triangulations of everywhere Sarah visited the six months leading up to her death. It wasn't a very exciting story; she travelled to and from home the children's school, the supermarket, the various sports clubs. There were several visits to plumbing and tile supply warehouses; this made sense to Bianca, considering the renovations the Brennan's recently completed.

Bianca also had a pages of phone records from Telstra; she was about to cross-reference them with the list of contacts John provided her with earlier in the week. Pleased with her progress, she went for lunch, placing the sandwich she brought from home into the jaffle maker to heat it up and make it a little more appealing. She sat down with the paper, waiting for the cheese in her sandwich to melt.

"Hi, Bianca, how are you?" It was Danica, making herself a coffee.

"I'm fine. Busy, but fine," Bianca responded amicably.

"Thanks for the drink the other night," Danica continued, smiling. "No one's ever bothered to tell me that sort of stuff." The blonde finished stirring her beverage, placed her spoon into the dishwasher, took a sip and moved so she stood close to Bianca, close enough for it to be considered an invasion of Bianca's personal space.

"No worries," Bianca responded, glancing at the toaster, trying to determine if the ticking sounds it was making meant her sandwich was now a toastie. She closed the paper, shifted her chair and leaned back, taking back some space.

"So are you still working on the taskforce?"

"Yeah," Bianca acknowledged, tilting her head. "I'm the only one left – Andy's trying to make a case to get you all back on board, but right now it looks like I'm going to be on my own." She glanced at the jaffle maker, which was starting to smoke. "Whoops. Better get that." She stood, collecting her plate and headed across the room to sort her lunch out.

"What are you going to be working on?"

Bianca paused, knife hovering above the plate. "I'll be expanding on the Brennan information. I genuinely believe that's how we're going to find the killer." She brought the knife down, dividing the sandwich diagonally.

"I didn't manage to get very far with that info. Sorry about that."

Bianca shrugged. "It's okay."

"If Andy can get the taskforce back up on its feet, maybe you can run me through what you've found… if you find anything else, that is; I mean, I'd offer to help," Bianca looked up sharply, willing the woman not to help her. "But they've got me cracking with a heap of sex crime cases. Domestic abuse and such. We're close to closing them out and sending the cases over for prosecution."

Placing her plate back on the table where the closed newspaper sat, Bianca turned back on Danica, absently commenting, "If I manage to find anything, and the taskforce gets re-formed, I'll update all of you." She sat down and picked up one of the jaffle halves, and looked up at Danica while blowing on it.

"All right. I'd better get back to it then."

Bianca nodded and began to read the paper again.

* * *

Back at her desk, Bianca made several more lists; one contained various sports coaches and teachers; another contained contractor details, and a third contained miscellaneous contacts that Bianca couldn't think of a heading for.

After cross referencing most of the numbers, Bianca began to add names and profiles to each of the names on the list. A quick google search yielded a lot of information regarding each of the sport coaches and teachers; several of the teachers Sarah had been in contact with also volunteered their time after hours at several sporting clubs. The sports coaches were under the age of twenty two, and the teachers were all women.

Bianca stood and stretched her legs, before filing the information from her first list away. She checked the time, and decided that a phone call to the building contractor might be in order. Before she dialled the number, she made a list of everything she could find about the builder, and then an additional list with questions she wished to ask him. She thought about her approach. If this was the guy she was looking for, perhaps a personal visit might be in order. She went to see Andy about which officer might be available to go for a drive with her.

"That went well," Andy commented immediately after Bianca began driving.

"He doesn't really fit any of the profiles, though. Is it really normal nowadays for university grads to become labourers?" Bianca asked.

"Apparently everyone's over educated, and you can earn a shit load more in hands-on roles. It's not the first I've heard of it."

They were referring to Richard Franks, engineering graduate with a MBA, who owned and operated his own building and renovations company. He grew up in Sydney, and after finishing his Masters degree discovered that the engineering market was both boring and oversaturated; his friend convinced him to start an all-in-one construction company. He explained that it was one of the best ideas his friend ever had. The company easily turned over between five and eight million dollars a year.

Richard was more than helpful with Bianca's investigation; they were chatting with the secretary just as he returned from a site visit, and he was able to call up all the files relating to the Brennan job within half an hour. He was devastated to hear about Sarah; he explained that she and her husband were lovely people who went out of their way to be helpful on the jobsite.

He kept meticulous records and was able to provide times and dates to all Bianca's questions. While he was slightly unwilling to hand over the paper files, he was happy to have his secretary copy anything they needed for them.

"How are you going with getting this taskforce back on its feet?" Bianca asked.

"Reasonably well. I think this work, and the two most expensive members of the team spending a heap of time on it will help. Hopefully you can find something after this next lot of investigations after Brennan."

"If you can't get them to get it back on track you still have budget for me, right? You did file the paperwork didn't you?" Bianca glanced over to him, checking for signs of avoidance or other negative behaviour. Unnecessary normally, but her recent experiences with Danica had put her on the back foot.

"Yeah, that's already been budgeted. You're locked in for another six months. I'll be able to help out like this occasionally as well. I'm sick of the restrictions we have, and I wanna get back to basics."

"I was thinking," Bianca paused to do a head check before merging lanes. "If you can't get this back on the road, you could re-open the Brennan case – move it from the cold case files into homicide. You aren't technically doing anything wrong, we're just fudging things a bit."

Andy contemplated this option. "Yeah, all right. If I can't get Pete to turn the taps back on for the Latif taskforce, I'll do that. It still won't get all the D's back, but if you choose two of your favourites, I can get them back. Homicide only, mind. I can't extend to get Kon or Danica, they're outside of my jurisdiction."

Bianca nodded in acknowledgement, and they sat in silence for a little while.

"How's Lina and Henry going?" she finally asked. They shared child antics for the rest of the drive back to headquarters.

* * *

In accordance with Andy's instructions, Bianca emailed a summary of all the contractors for the Brennan renovation relevant to the Brennan / Latif investigation.

She ordered GPS data for contractors' mobile phones, business information, credit card information, and wrote up profiles. Annoyingly, despite having six additional leads, she didn't feel she had a good handle on any of the men. Richard Franks used reputable, educated contractors; they just didn't sit in line with her original profile, the one she had been using as a template for her investigations. Frustrated, she went back to the original profiles; the ones Danica and homicide generated. She didn't feel those matched the contractors either.

She summarised this information and provided and expected timeline for return of data, sent an email and logged off for the day.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

 **Thanks for still reading. Let me know what you think.**

* * *

"Where's Mum?"

"She had to leave early for work. I'm taking you two in this morning," Bianca explained as she hovered over the twins, making sure they packed their readers and art smocks. Emma thumped her bottom onto the floor and screwed up her face, ready to burst into indignant tears. Bianca crouched down beside the girl, rubbing her gently on the back, waiting for her to speak.

"Mum doesn't love me anymore," the girl finally declared, much to Bianca's amusement.

"Yes she does. She just had to go to work early. Besides. I'm here. If you would rather have your mum that means you don't love me. Is that true? Don't you like having me here?" Bianca asked, shamelessly manipulating the five-year-old's emotions.

Emma shook her head, before looking at her brother, who had already packed his bag and was waiting impatiently for her to finish her tantrum so they could have some breakfast.

"How about you pack your bag and we can give mum a call after you finish brekkie."

Mollified, Emma nodded and continued loading items into her bag. Bianca herded them downstairs and presented them with their lunch boxes to pack while she fixed their breakfast. Once the morning tasks were finished and everyone was strapped into the car, she dialled Janet's number so the children could say good morning.

"Bianca." Janet answered with a breathy, slightly stand-offish tone.

"Morning, Janet. I didn't hear you leave this morning?"

Over the course of the last two weeks or so, Janet had been progressively leaving for work earlier and earlier. Bianca didn't ask as Janet appeared stressed, and she had assumed the early starts were due to the progress of the Smith case. She'd taken up the slack with the children, but this was the first time Janet managed to sneak off without waking her. Bianca was beginning to suspect there was more to it than just the 'Murder trial of the decade'.

"You got my note? I wanted to read up on some of the new witness statements that came in last night." There was a pregnant pause, as Bianca tried to determine if her lover was in a mood or if she was just busy at work. "Have you dropped the kids off already?"

"Were here mum!" came the cries from the back seat. For some reason, when Bianca was driving, they sat quietly, without complaint, but raised a ruckus when Janet or anybody else was driving. Bianca hadn't worked out why yet; it was likely she never would. Bianca let them speak on the phone for the short drive to the children's school, before parking a block away so she could walk them in.

"Mum, we're at school now."

"All right darlings. Be good for Bianca, I'll see you tonight."

"Bye Mum!" they chimed.

Bianca took the phone with her, switching the speaker function off.

"Are you going to be home on time tonight? I can pick them up from after school care if you can't make it." She took the phone away from her ear and plugged in the headset, before reaching down for Emma's hand. She motioned for the girl to take her brother's hand as well.

"Umm… I might be a bit late. I'll let you know. Look, I gotta go. Speak to you later, okay?" With that, Janet hung up.

 _Odd._ Bianca thought as she dropped the twins at the front gate and watched them walk into the school. _Definitely in the doghouse. Last time she was like this was…_ Bianca fished in her pocket for her keys and unlocked the car. _After I said I didn't think I could talk about her commission. Fuck._ Bianca's mind went into overdrive as she tried to work out what she might have done wrong, when she might have done it, and if Janet would freak out over it and want to end their relationship. Bianca didn't think so, but sometimes, when it came to personal relationships, Janet could be a bit bull headed. A grim look on her face, Bianca slid into the driver's seat, started the car and continued on her way.

* * *

After nearly a week of early mornings, late nights and curt phone calls, Bianca was nearly at her wit's end. When Janet made it home, she conversed in monosyllabic sentences, declaring that she was tired from her day and they could discuss things later, or stating that she was busy and had things to read before disappearing into her study.

Bianca had been looking after the children all week, and the kids decided they liked spending more time with her; they were currently reading Pippi Longstocking and Peter Rabbit; readers each child had chosen from the school library. Janet had been making it home relatively late, timing her arrival just after they were in bed, so she could read them a story each.

By Bianca's estimation Janet was easily working an eighty-hour week. One of the nights when Janet insisted on finishing the readers she had chosen, Emma declared that book was for little kids, and she preferred Bianca reading to them. Bianca, who was watching from the doorway, raised both eyebrows in alarm and slipped away in a rapid escape; under normal circumstances Janet might have found the comment amusing, but in her current state of mind, Bianca really didn't want to be a punching bag for any perceived slights, and she certainly didn't want to have to defend herself against a verbal attack from one of the state's top crown prosecutors who was in the process of sharpening her claws in preparation for the 'Trial of the decade'. Bianca loitered about downstairs, cleaning up and putting things away. When that didn't occupy quite enough time, she took a banana from the fruit basket and, using a paring knife, cut a design into the peel, before opening the fruit and eating it. She looked around for something else she could whittle a design into, before checking the clock to see if enough time had passed for her to safely head up to bed. Not quite. Casting about for something else to do, she decided that the fancy German knives Janet used were not honed to the delicate edge they deserved, and set about carefully sharpening all nine knives in the kitchen. Satisfied that a razor edge was on every knife, she finally turned in and went to have her shower.

* * *

A grey light was finally filtering in through the windows at the DPP. Janet sighed heavily as she examined the paperwork, the defence submitted regarding Mr. Smith's mental health, and his childhood upbringing.

 _Nature or nurture?_ Janet mused, before her stomach grumbled in complaint. She got up so early this morning that the only place she could get her morning coffee was McDonalds. She'd thrown the evidence of her visiting the fast food restaurant away as soon as she could; no self-respecting adult admitted to liking McDonalds, did they? Janet completed notes on the Smith case before turning her attention to the other cases piling up on her desk.

Just under an hour later another person arrived in the office, flicking on all the lights. Janet looked up to check the time and see who the early bird was, before heading out to greet him and see what the state of play was.

"Another early morning, I see?" Tony Gillies rumbled, offering one of the two coffees he had in his right hand to her, before continuing on to the kitchenette, Janet at his side.

"You know. This murder trial; Rhys is pushing for insanity plea."

Tony chuckled and placed two paper bags and his coffee on the bench, before searching through the cupboards for a couple of plates. He shook the pastries out onto the plates, motioned for Janet to take one, and sat down at the table.

"Rhys is a fool for even running this case. I don't care how much money he's getting, he's still going to take a hit professionally. I can't believe David ever thought he was a good fit for prosecution." Tony paused, taking a bite of his Danish, before continuing on, "But then again, I'm seriously questioning David's sanity of late; he's taken on another kiddie fiddling case."

"No." Janet looked closely at Tony, incredulous that the former head of the Department of Public Prosecutions was _defending_ such monsters.

"You better believe it," Tony grunted, "I think Owen should take the case, unless you want it? I don't really have the time to run it and I think we all have way too much history together."

Janet agreed. Owen was the logical choice; he would champion this case as well as any of them, if not harder; a win against the former head of DPP would be a significant notch on his belt.

Tony went on while Janet ate the warm pastry. "So. What's brought all these early mornings on?" he bored into her with a steely gaze, demanding she meet his eyes. Not for the first time, she couldn't.

"What time did you get in this morning? Five thirty? Six?" he waited for her to answer, and when it became apparent she wasn't going to, he pressed on. "I hope you're not getting caught up in the hype of this murder trial, Janet. It's open and shut. It's not crazy, all - nighter material." Finishing off his coffee, he stood and growled at her, "I hope you're not slipping, Janet."

She finally met his eyes, her troubled, stormy eyes snapping to meet his, silently duelling with him, before she backed her intensity off and looked away again. Pinching her lips together, she glanced down before meeting his eyes again, gentler this time, seeking, not challenging. "No, I'm not slipping. You're right, Tony. It should be an open and shut case." she corrected herself. "It is an open and shut case, and the trial's only just beginning. I've got some… things going on at the moment."

Tony's eyes narrowed slightly, and Janet knew she wasn't fooling him. They both started slightly as the front door slammed and the rest of the office started to come to life. Tossing his empty paper cup into the bin, Tony grinned, and in an exaggerated fashion, he chucked his fist across his body in an exaggerated gung-ho fashion and cheerfully declared, "Time to get back to it!"

* * *

"Are you heading off soon?" Erin hung her head around the doorframe, her briefcase in her hand, ready to leave for the evening. "I've covered all the Smith notes you gave me and Tony's got me on a couple of these drugs offences – I should be able to knock them over tomorrow." She appraised Janet's seated form. "Another late night, Janet? Tony hasn't got you working on too many cases has he?" Concerned, Erin placed her briefcase on the ground and ventured into the office, preparing herself for a long chat.

"No, it's fine." Janet arched an eyebrow, blinking, sighing and shaking her head at the same time.

"That's good then." Erin beamed, her smile illuminating the office. "How are the kids? I haven't seen them in a while. You've been finishing up quite late these past few weeks, haven't you? Who's…"

"After school care," Janet cut in quickly with a tight smile, before looking away.

"Oh." She checked her watch. "I thought they finished up at six thirty?"

Janet frowned a little at Erin's persistence, before admonishing herself. Erin was just being friendly.

"Bianca's been picking them up."

"Great. I only met her once – at the Christmas party." Erin smiled ruefully, remembering the awkward silence in the car as Janet gave her a lift home. When Janet didn't respond and it became apparent that she was politely waiting for Erin to leave, she stepped back and picked up her briefcase. "Well, I'm off then. You're the last one here – don't stay too late, ok?"

Janet waved her off and turned her attention back to the doodles she was making on a notepad.

 _What am I even doing here?_ She wondered. She knew she was avoiding Bianca. She had been doing so for several weeks; she tried to recall Bianca mentioning anything about her colleagues; hardly anything. It suddenly occurred to her that she and Bianca never talked about work; Ash used to question her about her cases, and occasionally tell her about the little terrors that she worked with. Bianca had been quite evasive whenever she asked about her case, and, now that she was thinking about it, it did seem curious that Bianca hadn't asked a single question after the Smith case started receiving media attention.

Janet once again thought about each half conversation she overheard. Polite, slightly stand offish. Reasonable demeanour when speaking to a work colleague; that overly polite tone could be hiding a conversation with a lover though. Racking her brain, Janet recalled Bianca lament the officers she was working with weren't up to scratch, but it was just a passing comment more than anything else. Perhaps it _was_ all in her head, and she'd been acting like a bitch for no reason.

She tapped the end of her pencil against the notepad, trying to decide if she was overreacting over nothing. She scratched her head and sighed, before retrieving the bottle of scotch she had hidden behind her folders on the shelf behind her desk. Uncorking the bottle, she took a deep whiff before pouring a small measure for herself.

* * *

Bianca twitched her head towards the knock coming from the front door, glancing up at the clock to check the time before turning her attention back to the current project the children were working on. There were far more door-to-door salespeople here than there ever were at her old apartment.

The soft knocking came again, and Bianca sighed, before going to see who it was.

"Tony. To what do I owe this pleasure?" Bianca opened the door up and stepped through, reaching out to unlock the wrought iron gate. "Do you want to come in?"

He smiled affirmatively and stepped past Bianca. The kids spotted him and chorused a greeting.

"Janet's not here. She's probably still at work." After the words left her mouth Bianca kicked herself. Of course Janet's boss would know that.

Tony grinned awkwardly, raising his eyebrows and rolling his eyes. "Aren't I allowed to visit you? We are friends, after all, aren't we?"

At a loss for an answer, Bianca shut the door and locked it, before following Tony into the house.

"Ah. Homework! Good," he rubbed his hands together enthusiastically as he walked over to the children.

"Tony, have you had dinner? I… err… I don't know what time Janet's coming home. Would you like to eat with us?"

"I'd love to!"

Bianca let Tony take over homework supervision and started on dinner. It wasn't too long after that Tony came over to stand beside the stove, silently watching Bianca work.

"How have you been? Holding up all right?" he finally ventured when Bianca wasn't holding a knife or at a critical point in cooking.

"What do you mean?" she looked at him, puzzled.

He turned and fished through the cupboard for a wineglass. Bianca, seeing what he was up to, retrieved a fresh bottle of red for him.

"This murder trial. Janet hasn't worked long hours like this since before the twins were born. She was looking like settling back into a routine then that business with Ash happened." He picked up the wine and twisted the top off, pouring himself a generous glass. "Did you want one?" he asked, before screwing the cap back on when she declined. Swirling the glass before taking a small sip, he continued. "I don't know your dating history, but there are plenty of broken marriages because of this job; it was one of the reasons I'm now divorced."

Bianca opened and closed her mouth like a goldfish. There really wasn't anything to say to such a declaration. They stood silently for a little while, Bianca occasionally stirring the risotto she was making and Tony taking small sips of his wine. Finally, Bianca revealed to Tony that she didn't think Janet was working the whole time, and she was using it as an excuse to stay away.

"Hmmm… I thought so." Tony stated. "I didn't think you'd be fooled by it either – I just can't fathom the reason for it though."

"I think she's just avoiding me," Bianca admitted. "I haven't worked out why though." She glanced over at the twins who were diligently colouring in. "I've been in the dog-house for two weeks, at least." She quirked a sad smile, before awkwardly picking up the spoon and stirring the pan again.

Sensing her discomfort, Tony shifted topic slightly. "We didn't start off as friends, you know."

Bianca snorted a humourless laugh. "No one starts off as friends, Tony."

"Yes, well. She was one of the few who defended me when I went through my rough patch."

Bianca raised a brow, waiting for Tony to continue.

He cleared his throat, embarrassment coursing through him when he thought about the dark days before he made peace with himself. That story was for another day. "Let's see. I've been head at the DPP for five years now… Jesus, time flies. That means I've been a prosecutor for at least twenty years. Anyway, I think Janet's been there almost fifteen; we didn't really get along until after she told everyone she was having a baby."

Bianca checked the rice and turned the flame off, before placing a lid on the pot. Tony's story was intriguing her, and she didn't want to interrupt him.

"I don't know why. I think she just needed a friend in the office after that leaked memo business, and with her ongoing pregnancy..."

Tony moved to top off his glass of wine, before pushing on. "Anyway, she supported me, especially after I got handed the keys to the castle, even though I thought she wanted to have them, and we sort of…. got friendly. You know. After she came back."

Bianca felt a bit let down. She was expecting a little more information than he gave.

"Anyway," Tony rumbled on. "This job, as they say, can be murder on relationships. I'm glad she found you. I dunno." He looked deeply into his glass of red, as if searching for answers in the crimson liquid. "I have a kid. Don't see her much. She's twenty-one now. I hardly see her." Swirling the glass, Tony went on. "You know, they never talk about work-life balance with men. I can't imagine being in Janet's shoes. Those kids," he motioned with his wine glass, "Both kept her together and nearly ripped her apart at the same time. I'm glad she's let me stick around to watch them grow up."

Bianca contemplated what Tony said; what he was saying. She wondered how much of a father figure he really considered himself; traumatic experiences did lend to a level of bonding; his own expressed desire to watch Janet's children grow, and his general availability to assist suggested to her that he either considered himself as Janet's father figure or at least saw the twins as something of a second chance; Bianca never knew he had a daughter.

"Why did you want to become a lawyer?" Bianca asked, and Tony laughed bitterly.

"Same reason everyone else wants to be a lawyer; big bucks and social justice. Taking over the world. How's it go? Everyone wants to rule the world. That's the one. Anyway. Why did you become a copper?"

Bianca contemplated her original reason. She hadn't shared it with anyone in a long time; after a while, either people stopped asking, or the people who asked didn't deserve to know the answer.

"When I was growing up," she started. "There was this girl that went missing from my high school. You know, I remember talking to her; there were a group of us waiting at the bus stop one day after school, and… I guess the bus was late. She wanted to walk, but the rest of us were happy to just sit and fool around. We didn't have cards or anything, we were just chucking rocks at cans."

Melancholic, Bianca motioned for Tony to pour her a glass of wine. "That was the last time any of us saw her. It was one of those hot, dry summer days, you know? When the wind parches your lips and you wish you had a cold milkshake, but there's nothing for miles and miles, so you just sit in the shade under the bus stop or a tree, and wait?" Bianca took a sip of the wine, allowing the tannins to dry her tongue out. "The police questioned us all; they never found her, never found out what happened to her. I looked it up on the database once, in the cold case files. Theory is some drifter offered her a ride; whether she's alive or not... we'll never know."

Bianca gazed absently at the children, who, amazingly, were still quietly absorbed in their project. "There were fingers pointed, of course; why didn't we stop her, the boyfriend did it, the father did it; in the end, it all amounted to nothing." Falling silent, they both watched the children.

"You need a hobby." Tony declared. "Something to stop you going crazy."

Bianca gave a weak smile. "Do you have one?"

"Sure," he responded. "I drink and gamble." They both paused, and Bianca took a breath, ready dispute relative restorative values of drinking or gambling. Before she could speak Tony cut in. "You should respect your elders," He grumbled into his wineglass while raising both eyebrows, "and do as I say, not as I do."

"Hmm…." Bianca vocalised an acknowledgement. "Janet does yoga," she mused softly, almost to herself, before glancing into the atrium. "And she works that bag over… although, I'm not sure she'd ever throw a convincing punch at anyone."

"Exactly. Find yourself a hobby to stay sane. Are we waiting or shall I get the kids ready for dinner?"

Bianca shook her head, before responding, "The way Janet's been avoiding me lately I'll be lucky if she gets home before nine thirty. If you help with the kids, I'll finish this salad off and we can eat."

The children were delighted to show Tony how skilled they were in setting the table; Bianca asked Tony to help them pack their school bags first, and before Bianca had the salad finished, the table was set and ready for dinner. After they finished, the twins wanted to show Tony the Lego spaceship, so they took him upstairs where it was proudly on display in their bedroom. Bianca had just finished clearing the table when she heard the jangle of keys in the door. She strode quickly through the house, opening the wooden door before Janet could turn the key.

"Bianca," Janet breathed, surprised by the opening door. Bianca merely smiled in greeting. "I… umm… sorry I'm late. Where are the kids?"

"Upstairs. Have you had tea yet? We've only just finished. I haven't even put your plate in the fridge yet. Are you hungry?"

"Umm… yeah."

At a loss for words, Janet simply placed her bags down and followed Bianca, trying to help. When Bianca shooed her away, she sat at the dining room table, waiting. Bianca slid the plate across the table and handed Janet her cutlery, before turning and pouring two glasses of wine and sitting down.

"Both of these are for me," she joked, taking a stem in each hand and sharply swirling the glasses in opposing directions, forcing the liquid to circulate around the bowl. With a pensive smile, she watched the wine succumb to friction and gravity and drop back down the glass, settling back to its previous level, the legs falling back down the bowl of the glass. She sighed, looking up at Janet, the introspective look still lingering on her features, and slid the glass in her right hand across the table to her lover. "Busy day?" she enquired, before taking a sip from her glass.

"Busy month," Janet responded, slipping the wineglass from her left side over to her right, picking up her fork, prodding the risotto slightly, before taking a bite. "This is lovely. You made this?"

Bianca nodded with a smile. "I've got a few tricks up my sleeve."

Janet took another appreciative mouthful, before wondering aloud, "What are the children doing up there? Are they unusually quiet?"

"Not particularly."

They sat in silence for a while, Bianca watching Janet eat.

"Look, I'm sorry I've been so busy lately; this Smith case has been giving me nightmares." Janet paused to take a sip of water to clear her palate, before placing the tumbler down next to her wine glass, sucking her lips in and pinning Bianca with a firm look.

Bianca nodded in acknowledgment and slid her fingers up and down the stem of the wine glass.

"Tony's been putting the pressure on me as well, and this year's junior solicitors have been particularly bad…" Janet broke eye contact, unable to keep up the façade with Bianca's gentle gaze resting on her.

Bianca bobbed her head sympathetically again, before commenting, "It seems a little unreasonable, the hours Tony's asking you to work; perhaps I can have a word to him?"

Janet rocked back a little. "What. Write me a note? 'Can Janet please be excused early from class today?'" she snorted and shook her head, hackles raised.

"We are all friends, aren't we?" Bianca replied in conciliatory tones. "I mean, surely this isn't a healthy level of work." She took a breath and reasoned, "Productivity will drop before too long,"

Janet sighed rather dramatically, quickly glancing up at Bianca, before fixing her gaze on a note on the refrigerator. "You know what bosses are like. Want everything yesterday."

"Mmmmm," Bianca agreed. Just then the kids tore down stairs, and realised Janet was home.

"Muuummmmmm! Tony, Mum's here!" Liam screamed. Janet snapped her attention off the fridge, locking eyes with Bianca just in time to catch the lazy smirk creep across Bianca's mouth. She twisted around, glancing past the twins galloping down the stairs to watch Tony's more dignified descent, before looking back at Bianca with narrowed eyes.

Amused, Bianca quirked her eyebrows slightly as she reigned her smirk in, pursing her lips slightly and pushing out of the chair she was seated at the same time to hide her response. "Did any of you want ice cream?" Bianca asked, innocently, reaching for Janet's discarded plate and clearing it away before she could say anything else.

* * *

Across town, Gavin was fuming. His girlfriend had just thrown him out after accusing him of touching her daughter up, so he had driven aimlessly about before parking his ute at a suburban football oval.

He sat in the darkness, watching the headlights from cars driving past, wanting to get high, wanting to smash something, wanting to burn of pent up rage with wanton destruction. A car pulled up in the adjacent carpark, and he could make out two people in the car.

He squinted, watching the couple make out, before one of them got out hurriedly, slamming the car door loudly. He cracked the window and ducked down a little, trying to make out the conversation. An argument carried faintly across the evening breeze, and he watched as the lone figure became illuminated in the headlights.

The girl walked across the carpark, exchanging angry retorts with the driver of the vehicle, who was slowly driving beside her as she walked. She changed directions, heading towards the centre of the oval, and as the driver opened the door, she whirled around, an accusatory finger levelled at him. Gavin heard the words she said, and watched as the driver sped off into the night.

He watched her in the darkness until he could barely see her anymore, then he quietly slipped out of his car and went to find her.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

 **Hi all. This chapter (and possible subsequent chapters) has not been beta'd. If you notice any errors, please drop me a line.**

* * *

"Any news?" Bianca was loitering around the missing persons department on ground floor, aimlessly passing time. She hadn't really progressed with the initial leads on Brennan, and was getting a thematic map with Brennan's movements and phone calls from approximately 6 months' worth of data analysed by the federal GIS team. They thought it would take a few weeks, considering Bianca called in a favour to get it done on the sly; she didn't really trust the state police resources, and besides, any new costs arising from the Latif case would have rung alarm bells with the bean counters, causing any progress to be immediately halted.

Bianca ruled every single one of Richard the contractor's leads out. The basic thematic maps generated by the state forces demonstrated no clear, discernable overlap between the tradesmen and the murder; the renovations were completed some two months before Sarah Brennan was found, and the maps clearly showed the new jobs the workers had moved on to. Frustrated, Bianca had filed the data away with the large stack of other useless information.

Kon smiled at Bianca as he walked past her towards his desk; it was a breath of fresh air, working with the federal agent; his colleagues had informed him that his contributions wouldn't have been valued because Feds were stuck up pricks; Bianca had taken the time to listen to him and been realistic with her requirements. She was demanding, but also put in a lot of hard work herself.

"Yeah, have a look at this. It came in a couple of days ago." Rifling through a manilla folder, Kon found the paperwork he was looking for and pulled it out, handing the relevant documents to Bianca. While she scanned the document, Kon filled her in on the basics.

"A missing person report was filed earlier this week by the boyfriend. It went into the general pool, and a couple of days later during one of our weekly meetings were we go through cases, workload and whatnot, this one came up." He paused to make sure Bianca was still following him. When she nodded affirmatively, he continued.

"The missing girl is seventeen, and the boyfriend is nineteen. They've been dating for a few years now, high school sweethearts; the friends and family all know they were together and what not. They had an altercation in his vehicle after which she left the car and he drove off."

"He left her there?"

"Yep."

"Apparently she told him to leave her alone, so he did."

"Huh." Bianca vocalised, which Kon took as acknowledgement for him to continue the story.

"So, this was about ten thirty at night, and they were parked in outside a local footy oval. I got the impression that it's a pretty regular occurrence; a regular haunt that they go to have," he cleared his throat before continuing. "Time together. It's not really relevant, but the fight was basically because he wanted to have sex and she didn't."

Bianca drew her brows together in consternation, and closed the file, waiting for Kon to provide more information.

"So he left her at the oval, which, I gotta say in his defence, is walking distance from her house. He went back about half an hour later to see if she had calmed down and couldn't find her, so he assumed she went home. He called in to see her at home the next day, as he thought she was ignoring his calls as punishment for the night before and her parents had assumed she had stayed over with him."

"Doesn't that seem odd to you?" Bianca asked. "I would have thought there was more panic when your seventeen year old daughter doesn't come home at night."

Kon shrugged. "You either do the double standard or you don't. We aren't here to judge people's morals. Anyway, on the odd occasion, she had stayed out all night and they assumed that she was with the boyfriend. It wasn't until he came over that afternoon that the flag was raised. They checked if she made it to school that day before reporting it to us."

"So why is this one interesting?" Bianca asked. "What made this one jump out at you?"

"Well, if you look at the background of it all, the girl, the boyfriend, the family; they family is pretty well to do, and the girl's marks at school were good. We went on her social media accounts and she was a generally well liked girl; no real bullying, kept to a small group of social friends, steady relationship; it was that she disappeared from suburbia without a trace in a half hour window? That's odd. There's been no withdrawals from any ATMs, and our preliminary searches showed nothing up. I've flagged this with the boss to put as top priority; I mean if we find her and she's well, then that is great; but if we find her decomposing in a ditch somewhere…" he left the sentence hanging; Bianca knew he thought this case may be linked to the Latif case.

* * *

Janet strode towards the Law chambers across the road from the DPP. She was going in slightly earlier than required as she wanted to have a quick chat with Rhys and his team confirm they were going ahead with the insanity plea; she still didn't think they had a leg to stand on, but she did stand by the old adage that you don't know until you ask.

"Ah, Janet. I see you've been able to get through he media scrum without too much trouble?" Ever the gentleman, Rhys waited for Janet to reach him and held the door open for her, while his two assisting solicitors had forged on ahead with the cartons of documentation. "Who have you got helping you with this one?"

"Erin will be providing council; I'll only need one assisting. It's a pretty straight forward case Rhys." She nodded at him before striding through the door, turning once immediately past the entrance and waiting for him enter so they could walk together. "Are you sure you don't want to change your plea? There's still time you know." They began walking towards the elevators.

"You know me, Janet. I believe everyone deserves a fair trial."

"You're willing to waste hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars just to lose a trial?"

"The outcome isn't set in stone you know."

"Yes, but the odds of you winning are marginal at best." They reached the elevator and Janet pressed the button. They waited in silence for the elevator to arrive. Just as it pinged to announce it's arrival, after Janet opened her mouth to speak but before she could pose another question, Rhys turned to her and stated quite firmly, "I wont change my mind, Janet. My client was not capable of making decisions at that stage in time. The court will find him innocent of the charge and he will be released a free man by the end of this trial." The elevator doors slid open, and Rhys quickly stepped inside, turning to face Janet once he reached the centre. "I'd say "may the best person win, but…"" he allowed the sentence to trail off as the elevator doors slid closed with a hum.

"Crap."

Janet released the breath she hadn't realised she was holding with the word, allowing herself to deflate slightly in the process. She checked her watch for the time and glanced outside to see if the media throng would present an issue for her if she was to venture back outside for a coffee.

* * *

"Hello! Anybody home?"

The solid door swung open and Janet caught it before it reached the final section of it's arc, avoiding putting too much strain on the door hinges. Her tote, which she had slung over her wrist so she could use her keys in the lock thumped against the door.

"Bugger."

She put the shopping bag she held in her left hand on the floor, transferred her tote into her left hand, retrieved the keys that were still swinging gently from the door and pushed it shut in a smooth motion. She sighed deeply, unaccustomed to coming home with sunlight still streaming through the louvers in the atrium into the hallway. She quirked a lip, mentally chastising herself before putting her shopping on the counter and opening the house up to allow the warm mid afternoon breeze to waft in, before starting what she assumed was still a favoured treat of the twins.

* * *

"This is nice."

Bianca took another cracker and scooped some more fancy French brie up with it before popping it into her mouth. Janet had arranged the cheeseboard and decanted a full bodied red to breathe while she had listened to the twins read their bedtime story.

Janet smiled at her over her glass of wine. Cautiously, Bianca proceeded. "Are you still busy at work?"

Janet placed her glass down on the coffee table and shuffled closer to her lover, placing her hand on Bianca's thigh. "We had the preliminary hearing this morning, and defence has called for trial by jury; I'm sure they want to play a big sympathy card for with the jury," She cuddled in closer to Bianca, snuggling up to her girlfriend, prompting Bianca to make room by lifting her arm, allowing Janet to lean back into her. Her voice lowered with a tired anger, Janet continued. "There isn't a jury in Australia that's going to believe a balding, middle aged guy who threw his kid over two metre high bridge railings and to his death, before going home and brutally bashing his wife to death is innocent." She sniffed, and wiggled further into Bianca's side and smiled, before twisting back to kiss whatever part of her girlfriend she could reach. Bianca hmm'd in neutral acknowledgment of Janet's statement and shifted her arm into a more comfortable position, before taking another sip of her wine.

"Bugger. Cant reach." Janet unsuccessfully attempted to retrieve her glass of wine without moving anything but her arm, squirming and twisting before Bianca lifted her arm again so Janet could sit up a little to grab the wine. She moved the cheese plate closer to the couch and motioned for Bianca to allow her to cuddle in again. "Anyway, Erin and I have done all the ground work and we're picking juries now, so I've a reprieve for the next few days – that was how I managed to get home so early."

Bianca nodded silently, before allowing her had to fall onto the back of the sofa. She was so tired, and having Janet in her arms felt nice.

Discourage by Bianca's silence, Janet tried a different tactic. "The twins still like grapes in jelly then." She stated, thinking back to how excited they were when she told them she'd made their favourite desert. "I think they like jelly a lot because Ash used to feed it to them when they were little."

Bianca felt a sharp pang in her chest, from her sternum straight to her heart. She closed her eyes to will the pain away, but it throbbed in time with her breathing, and Janet continued on, oblivious. "Actually, now I think of it, this is her favourite cheese, I think." She reached for a cracker, and, swiping a dollop off the fromage, popped it into her mouth before chewing thoughtfully. Bianca took a slow deep breath, and felt the pain radiate down her arms, down to the palm of her hands. Her brows creased as she frowned and bit the inside of her cheek, forcing herself to remain still.

"You tired bub?"

Bianca opened her eyes and lifted her head and looked across to her lover. She hadn't really felt Janet shift and she was now staring into Janet's searching blue eyes.

"Yeah." She breathed softly, glad for the easy out.

Janet shifted back up on the couch, leaning in for a kiss before standing up and holding a hand out to Bianca.

"How about you head upstairs to bed and I'll meet you up there shortly?"

Bianca blinked and accepted Janet's hand. "Yeah." She repeated to herself. "That's a good idea."

* * *

"Hey."

They were lying in bed, in the dark. Bianca was on her side, her back to Janet. She was tired, but her brain wouldn't let her sleep. She took a deep breath and released it slowly.

"I know you're awake."

Bianca didn't say anything. It was amazing how you could avoid someone within the confines of such a small space.

"What's wrong, babe?" Janet shifted her body so it was spooned tightly up against Bianca's back, her lips nuzzling gently in her lover's soft fragrant hair.

"Nothing."

It was Janet's turn to sigh, her gentle exhalation making Bianca's hair shift and tickle her nose. She knew she had caused this rift, but she wasn't quite sure how to fix it. She had thought she could win her lover over by coming home early and fixing something she liked for tea; Ash had mostly been won over when she used to do that. Taking a deep breath to block out the memories, she nosed the shell of Bianca's ear and softly mouthed her earlobe. The pattern of Bianca's breathing changed, and, feeling encouraged, Janet reached an arm down and began stroking patterns up and down her lover's bare thigh, before brushing her fingertips back up to caress a soft breast. Bianca's mouth made a clicking sound as she opened it, panting gently. "I'm not sure…" she began, but Janet silenced her.

"I thought you might want something to relax you." She whispered, her hand continuing its manipulation of Bianca's breast. "To help you sleep." She reached under Bianca's t-shirt, scraping her nails over silky smooth skin. Bianca couldn't prevent the resulting shudder and sharp intake of breath. "I want to help you feel nice." She reached down and trailed her fingernails up Bianca's thigh, and Bianca relented, rolling backwards towards Janet so she was on her back, allowing her legs to part slightly in the process. Janet exhaled softly in victory and began to pepper open mouthed kisses down Bianca's flank, before shifting positions and sliding Bianca's underwear down and off.

* * *

"I fucking told you." Kon was gloating at Bianca, unable to contain his delight at being correct. "That's damn good detective work. I should recommend myself for a promotion. Andy, you should look out. They're gonna promote me – straight into your job." Kon made shooting motions at Andy while mouthing 'pew pew' shapes in time with the imaginary shots.

Andy gave Kon a withering glance over the report he was reading, while Bianca sighed.

"Gloat all you like, just remember what it is we're talking about, Kon." She chastised him.

Kon had spent the last week scouring through recent cases homicide received, and it was through a combination of luck and determination that he'd managed to convince the boys at homicide to hand over copies of the reports, and after chasing up fingerprints from the missing persons case he had his eye on, managed to find the missing girl.

"Well?" He addressed Andy. "This will be enough, right?"

After discussing the find with Bianca, they fast tracked the forensic results and had just received the laboratory findings. Preliminary results showed vaginal bruising, although the swabs revealed no DNA, however, a more thorough search revealed a small amount of hair caught in a bracelet; hair from which DNA could be extracted.

"Yeah." Andy grunted. "It'll be enough."

He frowned and scratched his head, before getting his mobile out. "Let me sort the guys out so our workload is covered, and I'll go get the taskforce back on its feet."

* * *

"OK, just one more. A light, as well please."

Sam motioned towards the barman and reeled off her order for the rest of the team.

Bianca leaned up against the bar table and nursed the remainder of her craft beer. Around her, Danica and Kon were giving Elliot a hard time about homicide and Karen was attempting to explain the intricacies of homicide in Sydney, and how this connection almost fell through the cracks, another lead missed, another case potentially unsolved.

"I mean, we're in serial killer territory now, aren't we?" Danica pressed. "If the media get hold of these connected cases, they'll have a field day!"

Elliot growled at her. "How are the press going to find out?"

Danica shrugged noncommittally, and the rest of the team looked down to avoid catching Elliot's eye.

"'Scuse please." Sam broke through the awkward encounter with four precariously balanced beers, carefully lowering them onto the table, sloshing some of the amber fluid despite her best efforts not to.

"Hey our middies are still on the bar - I'll just go get 'em"

"Shoulda just got a jug." Karen commented.

Bianca nodded in acknowledgement while the other four sorted their schooners out.

"Anyway," Kon started his toast when Sam returned with the rest of the drinks, "Here's to the team getting back together, so we can put this fucker behind bars."

The rest of the team clinked their glasses together and they continued to talk shop.

For the first time in several weeks, Bianca allowed her mind to drift away from the Latif case, and towards her relationship with Janet. She huffed softly and took a long draught of beer. Perhaps last night was and indication that she was back in her lover's good graces. She smiled into her beer, re-living her lovers' lips trailing over her most sensitive places, before remembering her initial reluctance to engage, as well as the reason for her reluctance. The smile dropped off her face and her breathing hitched slightly, before her brow furrowed into a frown.

"Are you ok?" Danica asked from somewhere close by.

Bianca inhaled sharply and hitched her lip in annoyance, before schooling her features carefully.

"Yeah. Just remembered something from earlier in the week."

Danica nodded, and attempted further conversation.

"Are you happy the taskforce is back?"

Bianca nodded absently before answering.

"I'm pleased we'll have another chance at catching this guy; I could see that this was about to become one of those cases that eat away at an officer; everyone's got one – the one they never solved."

"Cool." Danica took another sip of beer. "Karen was explaining to me her thoughts on inter departmental cohesion and how she things she can reduce overlooked cases by at least thirty percent."

Intrigued, Bianca sharpened her focus on Danica and requested she clarify.

"Something along the lines of increase in communications, removal of thematic lines and a massive cross reverenced database."

Bianca nodded, raising her glass for another drink, before realising it was empty. She frowned at the glass before checking her phone for the time.

"Bugger."

"What's wrong?"

"I've gotta get going – I'm already running a bit behind schedule."

"Yeah, ok. I gotta go too. Give me two secs and I'll come with."

Danica raised her schooner and drained the rest of the beer in one go, before tapping Karen on the shoulder and waving goodbye. The rest of the team acknowledged their impeding departure and went back to their conversation.

They casually walked toward the main carpark, continuing the conversation about Karen's theory to improve the effectiveness of policing in general, with Bianca really beginning to warm to the topic.

They reached Bianca's car first, and as she fished the car keys from her pocket, Danica stopped and turned to face her.

"Hey. I had a really nice time chatting to you this afternoon."

Danica had moved so she was within several steps of Bianca.

Bianca smiled at the younger woman, and responded earnestly. "Yeah, you've really got me to put my thinking cap on."

Danica nodded, and took another step forward, and grasped Bianca's forearm. Time seemed to slow down for Bianca as she flicked her eyes down at Danica's hand, her smile frozen on her face, but a confused look in her eye.

"What…"

Danica closed the distance between the two of them, gently pressing Bianca backwards into the side of the Commodore, before leaning in for a kiss.

Bianca jerked her head back to avoid the blonde's lips, and as a result, Danica's mouth landed on Bianca's jaw. She went with it, trailing kisses down the older woman's neck, and was about to lick up and nibble on her ear when she was propelled firmly backwards by a rapid shove to her shoulders.

Danica paused, taking in Bianca's stormy blue grey eyes, before reaching for her again, intent on capturing the other woman's lips this time by guiding Bianca's head in her hands. Before she reached her goal, Bianca brought her hands up in front of her chest and made a sharp outward chopping motion, breaking Danica's momentum, before bringing her hands back together, bracing and pushing Danica firmly in the chest; hard enough that Danica had to take several steps backwards to maintain balance.

Fury replacing confusion, Bianca lunged after the younger woman, her hands darting out yet again, this time grabbing Danica's shirt just below the collar, her grip so tight her knuckles were white, and her nails dug into her palms.

Bianca twisted her hands slightly so there was no slack in Danica's shirt, before angrily addressing her. "What. The. Fuck. Was. That." Bianca demanded, giving a short, violent shake to accentuate each word. Bianca waited for Danica to answer, her lip twisted into a furious snarl, her eyes burning holes into the younger woman.

She was only just managing to reign her anger in, and when it became apparent Danica was not going to provide an explanation for her actions, she gave another shake. "I cannot believe someone working in sex crimes would think this sort of behaviour is acceptable."

Adrenaline was blazing through Bianca now; she could feel the burn in her biceps, but it didn't seem to be affecting her. She was having trouble thinking straight. "You need to pull your fucking head in! Sexual assault on a senior federal police officer? You stupid fucking idiot!" Bianca gave another shove, releasing her grip this time, letting Danica fall backward onto the adjacent vehicle. Her hands tingled with the sudden return of bloodflow.

"I…. I…."

"You… You…. You fucking what?" Bianca mocked the younger woman, her inarticulation, her lack of response. "Didn't you get the hint last time? Are you that slow that I would have to spell it out? No wonder you're-" Bianca froze, immediately aware of her surroundings, her posture, her tone. She took a deep breath, trying to recover the situation before she let it escalate beyond her control. Bianca took a step backwards, towards her car, chest heaving with the effort of controlling her rage.

Stunned, Danica froze, unsure of the best way to progress; Bianca's sudden change threw her; Bianca had never displayed any violence or volatility before.

Keeping her eyes on the blonde, Bianca carefully asked, "Have I, before tonight, ever acted inappropriately towards you? Given any indication of sexual interest in you? Any interest beyond what can be considered professional?"

Bianca watched as a pink tinge appeared in Danica's eyes. She continued. "I don't know how you thought I was attracted to you. I'm not. We." Bianca pointed at her chest with her index finger on her right hand while simultaneously pointing at Danica with the index finger on her left hand, "will never happen." Her hands shifted so her palms were facing Danica, her fingers outstretched, before making a firm 'No' motion with them. "Not now; Not ever."

"I'm sorry I read the situation wrong, but you were the one that came to me," Danica countered.

"Pardon?" Bianca asked, trying to clarify what she heard. "I'm sorry what?"

Surprised with the apparent progress with this argument, Danica pushed on with the lie. "I thought this was what you wanted? I mean. You asked me out for a drink, right?" She swelled slightly with confidence.

Bianca raised her right hand to her mouth, a motion to wipe the disbelief off her face, before taking a steadying breath.

"You cannot be serious. You're lying to a senior federal police officer. Immediately after you assaulted her. We're on a case together and I'm you superior and you think this is going to fly?" Danica deflated a little. "I wasted my time to give you some career advice, and you pull this shit on me? Mate, you'll be lucky if you have a job on Monday."

The gravity of the situation finally settled on Danica, and the colour dropped from her face. She stepped backwards, pushing up against the car, before moving to the left, ready to escape. Bianca nodded. "Yeah. You _should_ go." She paused, letting the other woman gain some distance between the two of them, before calling for Danica to stop.

"A word of advice. You need to grow up a bit and realise that you're not in a TV show now; it's your life, and you're doing a bloody great job of fucking it up. You keep this shit up, you're gonna be out on your arse before you know it."

Bianca began to pace in an agitated fashion.

"What the fuck?" Bianca looked down, a look of thorough distaste twisting her features. "You're fucked. " Bianca finally finished ineloquently. She ran her hand over her face again as she looked up to meet Danica's teary eyes.

"You should go." Bianca took a deep, shuddering breath. "I should go." Ignoring Danica, she mechanically checked the floor around her before going to the driver's door and getting in. She drove away without sparing another look to the younger woman standing near the concrete column.


	14. Chapter 14

**Keeping Secrets, Chapter 14 – "The truth of the matter"**

 **Once again this chapter has not been Beta'd. Please let me know if there are any errors.**

* * *

After a half hour caught in unexpected traffic, a three word text to Janet and an hour or so watching twilight surfers catching waves, Bianca felt calm enough to head home.

Unusually, there was a park adjacent to the front door, and Bianca gratefully pulled into it.

Darkness had fallen about half an hour ago, and she waited silently in the car, chewing the side of her cheek, collecting thoughts. She was tired, had a mild sinus headache and wanted nothing more than a hot shower and a few paracetamol to prevent her mild headache from becoming a blinding migraine.

Sighing loudly and rolling her shoulders, Bianca opened the door and groaned as she stood out of the car, her body feeling untenably weary, and pushed the door shut. Without collecting any of her other things, she made her way to the front door and quietly let herself in.

As expected, the house sat in semi darkness, with a single light from the kitchen illuminating the hallway and casting long shadows into the atrium and living room. She could hear faint sounds of the twins in their room, and see signs that Janet was still up and about.

Bianca went to the pantry to look for some painkillers. Her breathing was now slightly restricted; _I'll have to remember to use a nasal spray before bed_ she thought to herself as she rummaged. She bent at the waist to inspect a lower shelf when a pair of hands slid over her hips. She gave an involuntary gasp, startling slightly.

"Janet. Hey." She exhaled loudly, before straightening up and relaxing into Janet's body. "Sorry I'm so late. I didn't wake you, did I?" She retrieved the box of Nurofen and quickly popped two out of the foil blister pack, before tossing the box back in the general direction that it came from.

"Rough day?" Janet enquired, before placing a delicate kiss on Bianca's vertebrae.

Bianca hummed in agreement, before moving towards the sink, popping the tablets in her mouth and reaching for a glass to chase the pills down with.

"Have you eaten?" Janet asked as she moved towards the table, preparing to pack up her laptop and the paperwork that she had been looking at. "I saved you some dinner. The kids had fish fingers, but I have some chicken if you would prefer?" Janet looked up at Bianca, stilling her hands, waiting for her response.

Bianca turned to look at Janet, remnants of a frown evidenced from the crease between her eyebrows. "I'm not really hungry." She finally answered.

Janet smiled tentatively, wondering just how rough her lover's day was, wondering if she could eke out an encore from last night. She closed the distance between the two of them, nuzzling into Bianca's shoulder and neck, her hands on Bianca's waist.

Letting the stress of Danica's encounter to melt away from her body, Bianca finally relaxed into her lover's body, allowing herself to respond and be comforted by Janet's unusual tactility. Bianca turned her head and kissed Janet on the side of her face, on the cheek side of her ear, eliciting a pleased murmur.

She squared the two of them up, running her palms over Janet's back and back down, allowing her hands to slide over her hips and settle on her ass, leaning her whole body in towards the other woman, nuzzling under Janet's ear, drawing in her scent, allowing it to wash over her, feeling herself to calm and melt in Janet's arms.

Feeling a little dizzy, she readjusted her stance, loosely crossed her hands in the small of Janet's back and inhaled deeply again, stroking her lips down Janet's neck and closing her eyes, enjoying the warmth of her skin. Bianca asked if she had disturbed Janet with her late arrival.

"No, I was going through that Smith case – the double homicide? Closing statements tomorrow." Janet responded. "How come so late?" she probed gently.

"Ah, usual. Shit day." Bianca paused, thinking about her actual day. The last hour of the day had cast a pall on the overall success the team had with when they had the Latif case reopened. She closed her eyes and sighed, nuzzling further into her lovers neck.

Bianca wondered if she should tell Janet about Danica bailing her up at the carpark. She frowned and stiffened up. Danica had really ruined what had been a wonderful breakthrough at work.

She opened her mouth, trying to work out the best way to tell Janet about the day, to describe what happened, when Janet straightened abruptly, pulling away from Bianca, breaking loose from her grip, forcing Bianca to lazily lift her head and open her eyes, slowly coming out of her haze. "What's wrong?" She asked.

Janet leaned back slightly, crossing her arms and simultaneously lifted her chin, carefully eyeing Bianca's neckline where she had been caressing with her lips mere seconds ago. "You've got lipstick on your neck."

"What?" Bianca reached up, vigorously rubbing at the side of her neck where Danica had mauled her earlier with her palm before looking at her hand, and violently repeating the gesture. There was the faintest shimmer of lipstick on the edge of her palm. She looked desperately at Janet and her heart fell as she watched the walls go up. Bianca looked back down at the offending discoloration on her hand as she rubbed the offending marks off her neck with her other hand.

"I think you heard me." Janet's voice was as cold as Bianca had ever heard – two tones away from Janet's crown prosecutor voice, the one reserved for barristers on opposing council and hardened criminals that had sorely tried her patience.

Bianca looked up in time to see the emotions flit over Janet's face; fear, anger, jealousy, and for a microsecond, so quick that Bianca could have just as easily sworn that she hadn't seen it, right before Janet managed to clamp down on all of it, neutralising her face into a controlled anger, _hate_.

"You're such a cliché, Bianca." Her nostrils flared delicately and her mouth had drawn into a thin line.

"Wait, no." Bianca felt her guts twist into a cold knot, heavy and painful, rising panic cutting through her. She could throttle Danica right now, squeeze her neck until the life drained from her body and not feel one iota of guilt about it. She lifted both hands to waist level, and palms down, gestured downwards, the universal symbol of 'calm down'.

"No? I'd love to hear your explanations for all these late nights you've been having lately; all those phone calls you've received and had to leave the room for. That's where you were tonight, wasn't it?" Janet took a step backwards, no longer looking controlled, but disgusted.

She crossed her arms the other way. "It all makes sense." Janet gestured broadly at Bianca, who was frozen in front of the refrigerator. "You even smell like her. For fuck's sake, Bianca, Why? Why would you to something like this?" Janet radiated fury, her icy glare piercing through Bianca.

"Janet, no!" Bianca finally managed to regain control of her frozen body and stepped forwards, reaching for Janet's hand. Janet made a quick, flicking evasive move, and said, "Don't you dare. Don't - you - fucking - dare - touch me."

Bianca grabbed for Janet's wrist again, successfully capturing it this time. Janet lifted her other fist, meaning to bring it down on Bianca's shoulder, but she saw it coming and caught Janet's other wrist on the way down, before it could make contact. Bianca pushed both hands down, trapping Janet, while Janet struggled in Bianca's arms, fighting the other woman's embrace, trying to punch and slap in a jerky, spastic fashion, before the fire drained out of her and she sagged, falling into Bianca, allowing Bianca to guide her into a chair.

Bianca squatted down in front of the chair and looked up into Janet's anguished, red rimmed, tear filled eyes and spoke slowly, carefully enunciating her words. "Janet, listen. I'm not cheating on you. Danica tried to kiss me in the carpark after work. We had some after work drinks because we came across some evidence which resulted in us re opening the Latif case. Danica and I walked to our cars together. As I was saying goodbye, she pushed me up against it, trying to convince me to have sex with her. That's why…" She gestured at her front and neck, indicating the lipstick stain and perfume.

"If that's true" Janet's voice started to shake, her control breaking, tears leaking down her cheeks and dropping into her lap, "Which it is," Bianca interjected, "How can you explain all the other stuff?" Janet finished, wrestling her emotions back under control. "What other stuff?" Bianca enquired, thoroughly confused.

"The late night calls? The late nights in general? The _other_ stuff?"

"Its all work related, Janet. You know that." Bianca sighed heavily. "I still don't know what other stuff you're talking about" She rested her forehead on Janet's knee.

"The sex" Janet hissed. "Last night. You didn't want to. You didn't want me. I…" She trailed off, breaking eye contact, tears welling again, threatening to fall.

Bianca had no answer for that. How could she explain the jealousy she felt against Ash? She rested her head Janet's knee, trying to iron out her thoughts. Bianca thought about the case; about her work; Janet's work; their children. With Janet's behaviour over the past few months, her libido had taken a hit, and the stress of not getting anywhere with work hadn't helped things along. "That's not really fair." She finally muttered.

She had tried to be respectful of Janet's space, especially considering how tired Janet always seemed after work; she had thought that Janet's increased load at the DPP was knocking her about. Surely Janet knew this. She couldn't be expecting them to be at it like teenagers all the time.

"Its because you're out fucking _her._ "

Bianca looked up sharply, eyes narrowing. "Janet, don't to this."

"It's true, isn't it? That's the real reason you're constantly late, that you're always sneaking off, making calls; we hardly even talk anymore!"

"Janet, think about what you are saying! Just listen to yourself! Where is this even coming from? I would never-"

"The facts are, _Bianca_ , that you have been coming home later and later, you've been avoiding me, you've been sneaking off to have secret phone calls, and the ones that you do let me hear are all bullshit and guarded, and now, the nail in the coffin, that" She flicked carelessly at Bianca's shirt with her hand, missing her face by millimetres, causing Bianca to rock back onto her heels and stand up rapidly and put a hand down on the table to stabilise herself.

"Do you really want to do this? Neither of us will win, Janet! Please, don't. Don't make me do this." She sagged heavily, feeling broken, but standing her ground, not giving way.

"I'm _sorry_ if you're upset, _Bianca_ " Janet spat this out with pure and utter righteous venom. "I want the _truth!_ "

Janet's tone hit Bianca like none of her previous words had. She was tired, and her encounter with Danica was no longer as clear in her mind, but the violation that she felt in the carpark now bubbled up unexpectedly, spewing out with force; the prior months of stress and fatigue, a semi absent lover, parenting of her twins, and now this, this fight that she didn't want to go into caused a verbal eruption that she couldn't contain if she had tried; it was a reaction, violent and disruptive, a result of frayed nerves that snapped at the most inappropriate moment.

"OK Janet. If you want the truth, I can give it to you in spades. You think I'm having an affair; I'm not. I'm fucking hurt that you would even think that." The weeks and weeks of late nights and avoidance all made sense to Bianca now. "That you would withdraw from me and not talk to me." She drew a large breath. "That you would judge me and think that I could sleep with you and betray you at the same time. Do you even know me?" Bianca shook her head vehemently, and as Janet opened her mouth to respond, she continued. "No, sleep with you. Not fuck you; not make love with you. Sleep with you. Venerable and naked, trusting each other." Janet may have been one of the best prosecutors in the state, but Bianca held her own with more than state prosecutors, and the gloves were off now.

"Do I know you? I would never. EVER. Think that you could do such a thing to me. I could imagine that we could fall out of love. That you could stop loving me for some reason, but to think that you could betray be? And in turn I could betray you like that? You think that of me? That I could do that?"

Bianca leaned forwards, punctuating each statement with a jab of her finger.

"Don't you think I would have talked to you first?"

She looked at her hand, and stopped the jabbing motion. It was too aggressive. She let her hand drop to her side.

"I knew. I've known all this time that you haven't trusted me. Not fully. You haven't dropped your walls and defences all the way. I've known; its hard, but I've lived with that fact. I love you, Janet. Yeah, it hurts. Knowing that you hold me at arm's length. It's not enough and I want more and I want you to love me back but I'm not going to push you for it."

They held eye contact, Bianca's blazing, Janet threatening to look away, unable due to Bianca's intensity.

"The truth of the matter is that you want me to be having an affair, don't you? You want a reason to lock me out. I've never been good enough for you. I'll never live up to Ash. You wont let her go. You can't let her go. Can you?"

She stopped, took a deep breath and rubbed her palm across her mouth unable to believe she's revealed her secret, but unable to stop herself, so she plowed on through.

"That's what makes you so fucking good at work, isn't it? That you just have to control everything you do, everything you see. Well let me tell you something; a bit of free advice. You only think you're good at what you do because you can't see the bigger picture. Well you're wrong! The bigger picture is what counts! It's how we mere mortals make sense of things Janet."

Bianca was on a self righteous roll now, voice raised, borderline shouting.

"Take your fucking blinkers off, and have a good fucking look! You're so warped that you can't see what's clearly happening around you! You locked your emotions away because you can't control them, and they won't fit inside your rules. Well listen now. I'm not fucking anyone else. I'm in love with you. Get that through your fucking head."

Bianca took a deep breath to calm herself, before softening her tone. "I love you. Let me in."

Janet, speechless for once, gaped at her.

"Trust me," One last push. "Like you trusted Ash."

Janet reeled back, as if dealt a physical blow, her right hand unconsciously going to her left, touching her wedding band. "Don't you dare…"

Bianca's eyes widened, as she realised that she'd miscalculated, she'd pushed too hard in the wrong direction. "Janet, I"

"Get out." Janet stood, tears streaming down her face, devastated, "Get out. Now!" She shoved ineffectually at Bianca, trying to push her towards the door. Bianca turned and grabbed her keys, fleeing the house.

Janet sat down at the table again, put her head in her hands and the dam broke. She heard Bianca's V8 rumble in the street, and tyres squeal off into the night. She didn't know how long she sat, head on her arms, emotions cascading over her, images replaying of Ash, images of Bianca's caution, her care and unadulterated adoration when of her when they were together. As these vignettes played over and over in her head, she could now see that Bianca almost worshipped the ground that she walked on. Janet realised that she had just fucked up royally, and she burrowed her face harder into her elbow.

"Mummy?" A quiet voice enquired.

Janet looked up and quickly wiped her eyes, composing herself. "Sorry darling, did I wake you?" It was Emma. "Are you ok, mummy?" Janet reached for a hug folding the girl into her lap. "Yes, mummy's ok." She began to rock the girl, and kissed her head. "Did I wake you?" Emma ducked her head into Janet's bosom, evading the question. "Is Bianca coming back?" Janet squeezed Emma closer to her, tears again rolling down her cheeks. She took a shuddering breath, and breathed out "Yes darling. Bianca will be back. She just had to go out for a bit." A little white lie. "Lets get you back to bed." Janet took the girl back upstairs and put her into bed. Liam was fast asleep. She had a shower and went to bed, knowing full well that she wouldn't be sleeping that night.

* * *

Bianca dropped the clutch and squealed off into the night, furious at herself for letting Janet bait her and get under her skin. She contemplated where to go. She could go to Danica's place.

Shoot her and bury her halfway between here and Orange and be back before sunrise. What a tempting thought. She couldn't believe the gall of the woman, attempting to kiss her, grope her, and when she hadn't responded, trying harder to force the issue.

Where did she get off doing that? Had she led the other woman on? Bianca had driven around aimlessly for half an hour before parking her car at a seven-eleven somewhere in Parramatta and going to buy a packet of cigarettes; she wasn't sure if she was more outraged at what she was doing or the price of the pack of smokes.

She wandered back towards the pub she and Danica left several hours ago in a funk, sidestepping a few drunken louts that were leaving. She unwrapped the smokes, crumpling the cellophane wrapper into her pants pocket and seating a cigarette between her lips before realising she didn't have a lighter.

"For fuck's sake," she cursed.

"Hey! Hey! Bianca!" a voice called out from behind her, from the drunkards she had just passed.

A steady staccato of footsteps came towards her. She turned, a nasty response on the tip of her tongue, hand trailing towards her pistol, ready to verbally rip a new asshole to whoever was brave enough to try and talk to her, ready to draw her pistol, ready for carnage. Her nerves on edge, electricity coursing through her, she turned, ready to brawl.

"Bianca! What are you doing here? Where's Janet?" It was Andy. She deflated, took the cigarette out from between her lips and placed it back into the packet before pocketing the whole thing.

There was some shouting from Andy's friends, and he waved them off. "Yeah, you go on ahead. I'll get a cab or something. You guys go." he shouted down the street, allowing the men to begin again on their meandering course.

He looked at her silently, up and down. "Drop me home?" he asked. She regarded him carefully before nodding, sighing and trudging back the way she had came. Andy fell into step beside her.

* * *

"Come in for a coffee or a drink."

She had pulled up out the front of Andy and Lina's place, and on his insistence, had driven the car into their driveway.

It didn't actually take too much convincing to get Bianca inside. Andy assured her that Lina wouldn't mind, and as long as they were quiet and didn't wake Henry, everything would be fine. They had ditched the idea of coffee nearly immediately, and they had both switched their phones to silent and put them on the table.

Lina had got up to check on Henry and found them talking quietly and downing shots at a fierce pace, and wisely gone back to bed, leaving them both to their self-destructive behaviour.

They finished the whole bottle of Tequila and half a bottle of vodka between the two of them, and, not long before the sun came up, Andy had let Bianca use the guest bedroom and crawled into bed next to his wife and passed out.

By the time they were back into action the next morning, Lina had taken Henry to her parents house and left them a note telling them to clean up the mess they had made the night before.

Bianca and Andy shuffled about silently, cleaning up as they went. They were both quiet, but, after a hot shower, with the house airing out, sitting at the breakfast nook with coffee and croissants that Lina had kindly left on the kitchen table, Andy asked "Now what?"

"Now I wish I hadn't drunk that whole bottle of tequila."

"You and me both," Andy responded. He checked his phone. 10am. "I've called in already," Bianca stated. "Said we were chasing some leads, might not be in until later."

"We should have chased those shots with something." Andy sagely commented.

Bianca sighed. "How long have you known Janet?" She looked across the table at Andy. She had already checked her phone, and there were no missed calls from anyone that she had wanted to respond to.

"At least five or six years…." He counted them out on his fingers. It hurt his head to think.

"Did you know Ash at all?"

Andy scratched his scalp, wishing the pounding behind his eyes would go away. "Bianca, don't do it to yourself." He got up, and rummaged through the medicine cabinet until he found some dissolvable aspirin and some Berocca.

"Janet's… Neurotic."

He filled two glasses with cold water and dropped two aspirin and a berocca into each glass, sliding one in front of Bianca and leaving one for himself. She nodded her thanks.

"They never really socialised much with us – we socialise a lot more." he gave a tight smile to Bianca, "But whenever we did catch up it seemed that Janet was in charge… don't get me wrong, they were fine together, and adored each other…" He looked at Bianca, checking that she was still fine with the conversation. "I dunno, Ash didn't seem independent, like…" Andy stopped, unsure of how to continue.

"And as a person?" Bianca wasn't sure why she was putting herself through this. "Nice enough… couldn't say much more than that. I thought maybe she was a bit whiny…." Andy looked down at his coffee, very uncomfortable. He wanted desperately to change the subject.

"Janet fell apart for a long time after Ash was shot. I think she lost herself; allowed herself to be consumed by her grief and anger for such a long time. Without the kids…" he trailed off again.

"I didn't get it then, and I don't fully get it now, but if something happened to Lina or Henry, I don't know what I'd do." Andy rotated his mug 360 degrees, cleared his throat and frowned. He opened his mouth, only to shut it again. He tried again.

"Bianca, I don't know what you fought about last night. I'm gonna guess and chuck some ideas out there. You can let me know how right or wrong I am. Janet's still struggling with trust issues. I can see that. She thinks you and Danica are on together, right? I can see that there's nothing happening. All of us can. I don't think Janet can. Ash… I think she was a school teacher. Nine to five work, consistently. No variations. Grading papers and intimidating teens. That's it. I'm not going to say she was a pushover… but…"

He lifted his eyebrows and Bianca acknowledged the statement with a tilt of her head, "Anyway, You two…" Andy made weird swirly motions with his hands, "You and Ash, I mean, are polar opposites. When was that last time that you backed down to Janet? You challenge her in a way Ash never did. You intimidate her."

"I don't" Bianca snorted and shook her head, an ironic smile creeping in. She intimidated Janet King? It couldn't be possible, could it?

"You do. By your independence, your sheer competence. She's scared to trust you because she's scared she'll lose you. I don't think she wants to let you in because she's afraid that if she does, you'll trample on her heart. We work closely with our colleagues, so does she. Ash didn't have that; and seeing those close work relationships, it scares her."

Andy pushed his coffee cup away, and dragged the fizzing glass of fluorescent red fluid closer. "I've also seen Danica flirting with you. She's a pain in the ass. She was the reason one of my mates got divorced. Reasonable investigator, but a fucking pain in the ass."

"She tried to bail me up last night."

"Yeah. Wouldn't have put it past her." He shook his head in disgust. "You can file a complaint if you like." Bianca shook her head, before shrugging noncommittally. "Fine. But I reserve the right to transfer her out to the boondocks anyway."

They sat in silence for a long time, deep in their own thoughts, the ticking of clock regularly punctuating silence, an occasional warbling of magpies and the fizzing of the pick-me-up's the only other sounds in the house.

* * *

"Yes Your Honour. We find the defendant Guilty."

Janet flexed her hands into fist under the table before relaxing them and taking a deep breath, holding for a count of five before slowly exhaling over another count of five. She had given closing address earlier that day after a sleepless night and torturously slow morning; she had changed her the address slightly; she went in much, much more aggressively than originally intended, borderline too hard; hard enough for Lina to look sideways at her during the speech, although, arguably, there was no punishment harsh enough for a man who murdered a woman and her four year old daughter in a crime of passion.

They stood for the Judge, and packed up their papers to leave. Janet had her things packed before Lina. "I'll see you back there." With that she breezed out of the courtroom, leaving Lina in her wake.

* * *

"Yes. What is it?"

Janet had her head down reviewing the arson and drug trafficking case that would occupy the rest of her week. It was late, and Janet was avoiding thinking about the incidents of the night before. She looked up to see whose timid knocking was disturbing her ill-tempered solitude.

"Can I help you, Lina?" She asked coldy, leaning back in her chair, arching at the same time, giving it a good stretch. Too bad she'd shouted at Bianca the night before, she thought ruefully. Bianca did give very good back rubs. She cleared her throat and raised her eyebrows to hurry Lina along.

A competent solicitor, Janet didn't usually work with Lina and was frustrated at the change of plan she encountered upon arriving at the office earlier that morning.

"Well, I'm leaving now." Lina shifted and leaned against the doorframe so she was half inside the office. "We got a good win today." She quirked the side of her mouth up, and Janet gave a generic sound of agreement.

"Ahhh… I just wanted to let you know that Bianca stayed over at our place last night." Lina rushed this out quickly, not sure if she had overstepped a boundary by sharing this information. "They… they were drinking. I'm not sure what time until but they weren't up when I left this morning." Janet blanched, looking down quickly before composing herself and looking up at Lina. "Thank you for letting me know." She flashed a tight smile. "Anything else?"

"Umm… no, that's all. Ahh… goodnight. See you tomorrow."

"Goodnight"

Lina pushed off the doorframe and briskly left the office, keen to get out of there quickly – the ice queen was back with gale force winds, and she didn't want to be caught in the draught.

Janet leaned forward in her desk chair, placing her forehead into the heel of her palms, and took a shuddering breath. "What have I done?" she muttered to herself. She picked up her phone and activated the screen, her thumb hovering over the dial button, trying to decide if she should call Bianca. The screen went black and she put the phone back down again. She looked over the stack of papers on her desk, no longer interested in pretending to look over them, but still not wanting to go home. Janet's iphone chimed with an incoming message, and Janet snatched it up, flicking her thumb over the phone to unlock it. She frowned, and tapped out a response to Amanda. Disappointment marred her features as she picked up her handbag, dropped her phone in it and left the office.


	15. Chapter 15

**Keeping Secrets, Chapter 15 – "Fixing things"**

 **Hi all. Once again, this chapter has not been Beta'd. Warning: there is EXPLICIT content in this chapter. If you aren't into explicit lady action, don't read it. If you are, enjoy, and post a review.**

* * *

Bianca pulled her car over, pleased there was a park on the street right near the front door. It annoyed her slightly that there was no off street parking available, outside Janet's converted warehouse studio apartment, but not enough for her to bring it up.

It was just one of those life irritations that you learned to live with; small enough to ignore most days, but enough of an inconvenience that it could make a person snap on a bad day; Bianca was in enough of a mood that it was on her shit-list.

She glanced in the rearview mirror, taking stock of the empty vehicles lining the street. Janet's Audi was across the road, a couple of cars down. The neighbours must have friends over, their cars taking up valuable vehicular real estate.

She made a mental note to write to the council and have the parking in the area re-zoned to residential. Steeling herself, she stepped out of the car and opened the wrought iron gate, the accompanying squeak irritating her still tender head, before stepping through, turning and locking both her car and the gate.

She made another mental note to change the locks to something that would fit in with fire regulations. She turned, her key almost in the lock of the front door when it swung open. Surprised, she looked up.

"Hey." Janet had obviously been home for a little while; she was in a casual three-quarter length blouse and Bianca could hear something bubbling away on the stove.

A small smile escaped, despite her best efforts to stop it. "The kids have been asking after you."

Bianca angled her body to get through the door, keeping a slight distance from Janet, leaving her to shut and lock the door.

Two little voices squealed "Be-yaaannkkk-aaa" at her, right before they came crashing into her legs, demanding hugs and attention.

"Alright, alright. Let me put this down first." Bianca walked stiffly towards the living room, impeded by a child clinging onto each leg.

"Emma, Liam, don't hang off Bianca like that." Janet chided the twins.

"It's ok." Bianca laughed, eventually getting to the living room and putting her keys, phone and document satchel down. "What did you little monsters get up to today?" with delighted giggles, they proceeded to tell Bianca about how they made plasticine animals, eaten crackers for lunch and rolled down the mountain a billion trillion times.

"Dinner's almost ready" Janet called over to them.

"Did you hear that?" Bianca said excitedly. "Lets go wash our hands!" She bundled the kids upstairs to wash hands before returning with them and making them set the table. "Which plate do you want to use today, Emma?"

"The ducky." Bianca handed the plate to the girl.

"What about you Liam?"

"Frog" Bianca handed that plate to the boy, before grabbing two more for herself and Janet. She helped the children put the plates on the table and set them up on their chairs before placing cutlery down. Basics sorted, she turned to see Janet watching her with a sad, remorseful smile. She returned the smile with a rueful smile of her own, before stepping back from the table to allow Janet to plate up.

* * *

"Uhhh… I've just got to go and… umm… review these cases, OK?"

Janet had begged off immediately after dinner, leaving Bianca and the twins to clean up. Bianca had quickly stacked the dishwasher before asking the children if they wanted the new readers she got them.

"Yes pleeeeeassseeee!" Came the response.

"Ok, but only if you help me clean up the mess you made."

"Ohhh Khayyy" came the reluctant groans.

Bianca quickly put the dishwasher on and scrubbed the pots, before giving a tea towel and a pot lid to each child, requesting the cookware be dried and put away. She also left their plates out of the dishwasher, hand washing them and giving them to the children to dry as well.

The small chores done, Bianca herded the children to the couch and gave them the readers she had hidden in her document case, one on indigenous animals and the other on Legos.

"Do you want to read these to me? Who wants to go first?" Of course, both children wanted to go first. "Ok." Bianca balled her hand up into a fist and started to raise and lower it in a classic rock paper scissors motion. "Winner reads first." The kids quickly duplicated Bianca's motions, and on 'three', Emma made paper and Liam made a rock.

"Emma wins!" Bianca declared, covering Liam's hand with her own. Liam scowled. "How about I choose the book and you both read it out to me?" Bianca suggested.

After settling in with the firs reader, the twins were able to read out nearly half the words, and Bianca helped them sound out the ones that they didn't know. When they finish the second book, Emma dropped the book, looked up at Bianca and gave her a big hug. "What's that for?" Bianca enquired.

"I dreamed you left and mummy cried."

"Oh, sweetie." Bianca cuddled the girl close to her. Liam screwed up his face and threw his arms around her as well. "I don't want you to go!" he whispered loudly in her ear. "Shhhhh…" She rocked the children. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Mummy's been sad today. She tried to hide it but we knew."

"I know sweetie" Bianca said joylessly. "She's had a lot on her mind." Diverting their attention, she asked, "Which was your favourite book?"

"Animals!" came the rapid response from them both.

"Maybe we can take you to the zoo soon then. There are lots of animals at the zoo."

"ZOOOOOOOO!" They both begin wiggling and squirming in Bianca's lap, their earlier concerns about their mother gone.

"All right you two. Time for your bath" Janet's voice floated over to them from the middle of the stairs. She had been watching the interaction for a while, a tender smile on her lips, her heart aching from watching the three of them together. The kids raced towards her and up the stairs, squealing either "Mummy!" or "Bath" intermittently. Bianca followed more sedately, bringing the readers with her. "I'll get them ready for bed if you want to do something else or whatever." Janet stated.

"OK." Bianca trailed up the stairs, putting the readers into the twins' room and heading towards their bedroom to have a shower and get changed.

* * *

After her shower, Bianca went back downstairs to pack lunches for Janet and the children to take to work and school – a routine she had just fallen into one day after Janet had asked her to help chuck a few things into the kid's lunchboxes for kinder; packing lunch for Janet was the natural progression after that, as she had seen the rubbish lawyers survived on, with their busy schedules and lack of time. She didn't know exactly if Janet ate what she packed, and most of the time she wasn't home to know what the twins managed to eat or not eat, but there were no complaints, so she kept up the routine.

Her own lunch she normally bought; she was out and about too much to be able to bring something every day, even though it was nice to not spend an arm and a leg on food.

Final tasks finished, she went back upstairs, and hearing Janet reading bedtime stories to them, Bianca knew she had at least another twenty minutes to spare. Janet had left the door to her study ajar, so Bianca went in and sat at the desk; an unusual act for her, as she generally never encroached into Janet's study.

Bianca glanced over the desk, taking in the stack of neat folders sealed off with pink ribbon. She never understood the whole ribbon thing. There were no open folders, and nothing was much disturbed on the desk; all things neatly stacked, the Smith case finished, the desk clear. Janet's earlier statement was clearly a ruse to get away from her. Bianca sighed heavily, wondering if the inevitable was going to happen. Tonight she didn't feel bad for intruding into Janet's personal space.

She swivelled in the chair, eyes panning around the room, allowing the chair to dictate the speed of her observation. She still felt slightly unwell from the big night before, so she stopped the chair from moving any further, and turned her head instead.

Shelves of folders lined the walls on one side, and framed items on the other. Bianca took in each framed item. A law diploma. A graduation photo. Ash and the kids at the park. A photo of Ash and Janet, on a holiday somewhere sunny and bright, smiling at the camera without a care in the world.

An unexpected pang of bitterness shot through Bianca, and she turned away from the pictures, inhaling deeply and sharply, glancing towards the bottle of scotch sitting on the shelves next to a volume of Australian Criminal Law, XII-XVI.

No. Bianca shook her head. That wasn't going to solve anything. She kicked the chair into rotation again, dropping her head back on the headrest and closed her eyes, forcing the angry bile back down, controlling her breathing and bringing her heartbeat back under control.

She stopped the gentle swivelling of the chair when she heard the soft padding of feet, opened her eyes and turned the chair towards the doorway. She didn't lift her head. The bitterness had subsided somewhat, however, a wistful longing and desire replaced the empty void the bitterness left behind. She looked up, meeting Janet's eyes.

"Well, they're asleep" Janet commented softly from the doorway.

Bianca gave an emotionless smile, one that didn't reach her eyes, one that she didn't feel in her heart, and watched Janet tentatively move into the room, watching her pause uncertainly several meters away, watching her glance towards the photographs lining one side of the wall. .

"I've been thinking." Janet started, before hesitating and rubbing her arms nervously.

Bianca wondered silently to herself if she has ever seen Janet quite so inarticulate.

Janet sighed and moved towards the desk, sitting on the corner, away from Bianca, yet angled towards her. She started again.

"I owe you an apology. You were right. You are right. I'm sorry." She took a deep shuddering breath, her eyes a pink tinge, weary, and full of fatigue.

"I'm sorry I didn't listen, I'm sorry I did what I did last night… I'm sorry I kicked you out." Her bottom lip trembled as she talked, her voice cracking. She was unable to maintain eye contact, and she cleared her throat to draw attention away from her emotional state.

Bianca frowned and didn't answer. She wanted to believe. She wanted to forgive, but there was a pain inside her that wouldn't let her just let go.

"Bianca…" Janet took another shuddering breath, and she flicked her eyes from the framed photo of Ash to her lover, her living, loving but unreadable lover, sitting in front of her, impassively watching her. Silent tears began to trickle down her cheeks.

Watching Janet's tears fall shattered Bianca's resistance as she stood to gather Janet to her, once again breathing her in, a large lump in her throat that she couldn't swallow, blinking unbidden tears away. "It's ok." She sighed. "Janet, its ok."

"You changed your clothes." Janet commented idly, tugging on Bianca's t-shirt.

"I had a shower." Bianca commented drily.

"I meant before." Janet sniffed softly, pulling back and wiping her tears with the back of her hand and looking away.

Bianca relented, cupping the other woman's chin and drawing her attention back before explaining gently, "I keep a set in my car, and a one in my locker. Saves a girl from embarrassing incidents."

Bianca allowed a twisted smile, and Janet followed suit, her anguish easing. Bianca leaned in, brushing her lips lightly on the corners of Janet's mouth, first on the left, then the right, before softly capturing Janet's lips with her own. Janet shivered, and Bianca released her from her grasp, sinking back into the chair. "You didn't bring any work home for tonight."

"No." Janet gestured around the desk. "I…" She placed her hands backwards on the table, fingers overhanging the edge of the desk. She shook her head, unable to explain her actions from earlier in the night. "Last night, after you left, I had a serious think about what you said. We must have woken Emma up." She creased her eyebrows together. "I didn't even ask if you what happened with Danica." Concern marred her features. "I didn't even find out if you were ok."

Bianca conceded, "It was nothing. I have more important things to worry about. Apparently she has been flirting at me this whole time, but it's under control. It's going to be under control." It was Bianca's turn to grimace, looking up at Janet. "I don't want you to think I'm pushy."

"It's not that darling," Janet interrupted, "I'm scared. Of losing you. After Ash…" She trailed off and Bianca drew a raspy breath in, the bitterness back. She wasn't quite able to suppress the flash of jealousy that flared up in such an unexpected manner.

"There are lots of times police don't come home at night. Don't come home again. Can't come home." She trailed off, looking down at her knee, suddenly finding it the most interesting thing in the room.

"I'm more frightened of that than of you cheating. I thought that if I didn't let you in, I'd be safe. We'd be safe. But life just doesn't work that way." She glanced up at Bianca, before looking down and examining her other knee.

They sat in silence for a while, Bianca contemplating her own mortality and the safety of her job, and Janet sorting through her emotions, going through a risk analysis, allaying her own fears with crime statistics, general, police related and other generic crime.

"I do love you, Bianca." She finally looked up guiltily, distraught at the distance she had created between them both.

"I love you too, Janet." Bianca wheeled the chair towards the desk slightly and reached for Janet's knees, gently guiding Janet off the desk to straddle her on the chair. She worked her hands under Janet's top, caressing her lower back, massaging tight areas she found.

"I'm not cheating on you." Bianca repeated. "We were talking by the car, and she suddenly tried to kiss me. I pulled back, of course, and she went for my neck, and tried to unbutton my shirt. I was backed up against the car already, so I shoved her off. I told her to go away, that she was well and truly dreaming. She tried again, so I shoved her. She left then, and I just sat in the car for a while."

Janet listened silently, contemplating Bianca's words.

"The worst part about it, though," Bianca continued, "Was my reaction to it."

"How do you mean? I don't understand."

Bianca continued to stroke Janet's back, luxuriating in her soft smooth skin.

"Part of me was a little bit turned on. I was flattered, for sure; sexual advances are few and far between nowadays, and part of me, a very tiny part, wanted her to continue. Part of me wanted to let her do it, join in." Bianca's hands stilled, and she looked up at Janet for forgiveness to this admission. "She's not my type, but she's not unattractive."

Janet nodded at Bianca's words, accepting them for what they were. "It's understandable, Bianca. Thank you for having the courage to tell me." Bianca released a breath she didn't realise she was holding, and rested her head onto Janet's bosom.

"Andy and I got shitfaced last night."

"I know."

"How do you know?" Bianca mumbled into her breast.

"Lina told me."

"If she hadn't told you…"

"Shhh…." Janet kissed the top of Bianca's head, silently conveying that it was ok, that she had worked it out. Trust.

"Did you end up going to work today?" Bianca looked up at Janet, searching her face. "Don't worry; I wont tell anyone." Janet smirked. "Your secret's safe with me."

They stayed like that for a little while longer, with Bianca stroking Janet under her shirt, caressing up her back and down her sides, tickling her slightly, brushing her thumbs under Janet's breasts, before dipping back behind her and brushing down the small of her back to the top of her butt, as far as her trousers allowed.

"When we were thirty five," Janet began, "Ash decided that we should try for children. We had been together about four and a half years."

"You don't have to tell me." Bianca interrupted.

"Yes, I do." Janet responded. "I've never seen the twins respond to anyone like you." She shifted position, moving into Bianca's lap, trying to get more comfortable, shuffling so her knees were hard up against the back of the chair before sinking onto Bianca's thighs, sitting upright so she could watch her girlfriend while she told the story. The chair groaned under them, protesting their combined weight.

"We discussed it; Ash wanted kids, I wasn't fussed either way. Because it was what Ash wanted, we decided that she would try with IVF. Not the recommended go to, but has a higher success rate. Mutual friends agreed to donate sperm."

Janet paused, reminiscing about the conversations negotiating times and dates.

"Ash managed to convince me that we could make it work, even though I was worried about managing children while working a seventy hour week. She convinced me that if she carried the child, we could have a conventional," Janet made inverted air commas around 'conventional', "Arrangement. We went through three rounds of IVF over a period of eighteen months. None of the embryos took."

Janet released a puff of air. "She managed to talk me into trying." She shook her head and looked at Bianca. She was as much telling Bianca as exonerating herself of guilt.

"Mine took. First go. I couldn't believe it. I think deep down, I was just doing it to please Ash. I personally didn't really want children. But when they came along… they were so beautiful. I really couldn't just leave them and go… back… to work."

Bianca nodded in understanding. "So we came up with a new arrangement. Ash would take over after the twins turned one."

Janet took a deep breath and looked over at the photographs. This time Bianca allowed herself to look as well.

"She never coped. Didn't even last a month. It was an absolute, unmitigated disaster."

A pained expression came over Janet as she thought of the absolute chaos during those first few months.

"We got help for Ash. She really took it hard. I'll never know if she forgave me for it."

Her face crumpled up, and a single tear escaped, meandering down, stopping on her lip. Bianca reached up and brushed it away with her thumb, before gently brushing her thumb over each eyelid. "I miss her so much." Her head dropped down and her shoulders sagged, as if an incredible weight settled on her shoulders.

"Initially the pain was so intense. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw her, lying there, I felt her, in my arms." Janet shook her head. " I just…. I just wished the pain would fade, that I wouldn't want to follow, that I could stop blaming myself." Janet squeezed her eyes tight, forcing herself to say the next bit. "I never thought it would. But when it did…" She coughed out a sardonic laugh before sobering up. "When it did, it took my memory of her as well."

Bianca's lips tightened as she listened. There wasn't anything to say; she could only listen, only support by being there. "I can only remember her though photos. I can barely remember that things happened with her, that she was in my life, the time we shared. She's sort of become… this figment of my imagination, I think. All I've got left is some photographs and videos. The more I watch them, the less real they become. I feel like a stranger, watching through a window."

Janet propped her palm against her face, lost in her thoughts. Bianca just waited. They sat there for several minutes, the two women lost in their own thoughts.

Shaking her head, Janet huffed, "Anyway, I'll never know now." She sniffed loudly, and wiped her face with both hands, starting again abruptly.

Bianca raised both eyebrows, querying the sudden change of topic. "About the kids. And the hired help. I'll never know if she was ok with that."

Bianca's confused look remained. Stress certainly made a person fixate on the oddest thing.

"Thank you." Janet looked directly at Bianca before smiling warmly. "For looking after us. They've never loved anyone else like they love you."

* * *

They lay facing each other, side by side, Bianca's toe touching Janet's ankle, Janet playing with the skin just below Bianca's belly button.

"Tell me about this case that's been keeping you away from me all this time."

Bianca laughed, and replied, "Its not like you do a regular nine to five. Cases come up like this that just eat away at you. You know that."

"Yeah, but I can bring my stuff home."

"I used to bring stuff home…"

Janet's fingers stilled. She had been in Bianca's apartment; it was neat and clean, two bedroom, third story up, western Sydney. One of the rooms had been converted into a pseudo office, with a pin board for a wall on one side, complete with strings and thumbtacks ready to connect the dots up. Bianca had explained that she didn't use it as much now she mainly acted as liaison between state and Interpol matters, and she was thinking of pulling it all down. It had stayed up, in the end, as she had ended up renting the apartment fully furnished out to a young detective that Andy knew.

"You don't want that rubbish here, Janet. The kids are growing up and we don't need them to see it." Janet shifted and they kissed briefly. "This is one of the reasons I love you." Janet rolled onto her back. "Why don't you use my study? We can lock the door so they can't get in." She rolled back to face Bianca, moving her foot so her ankle was touching Bianca's toe again, and started playing with Bianca's tummy, above her belly button this time, drawing lazy spirals and patterns, up and down, stroking her with her fingertips and grazing her with her nails. "What's this one about, anyway?"

"I'm not sure we're allowed to discuss it." Bianca rested a hand onto Janet's hip and propped her head up on her hand, shoving her pillow under her armpit to make the position more comfortable. "Why not? There's no conflict of interest. Much. I'd like to help if I could."

Bianca's eyes drifted shut. Janet's lazy swirls were getting larger, tickling under her breasts and over her mons and upper thighs, gradually lighting a fire within her.

"I guess." The token resistance Bianca provided drifted away rapidly. She actually couldn't remember the reason they hadn't discussed it earlier. "Ummm…."

Bianca opened her eyes again, and moved Janet's hand onto her side, stilling it. She rested her hand back on Janet's hip.

"The nuts and bolts of it is we have a couple of dead girls, one guy killing them. We have several suspects, and have some theories on how they might be connected, but haven't been able to tie it all together, nail down a motive. The first body we can link is from 2005. I think there are more, but that's only a hunch. The murders are getting closer and closer together; four months between the last two, Latif and this latest girl… her name escapes me. He's escalating, and we're running out of time. It was enough to reopen the case at HQ."

Summary over, Bianca's thumb began stroking Janet's hip. Janet made an impressed face, raising both eyebrows and pouting her lips.

"You could teach some of my young solicitors a thing or two about briefs and debriefs." Janet started stroking again, up and down Bianca's side, this time using her whole hand. "Are the girls… interfered with?"

"Janet, we can go through the case all you like over the next few days, but can we please not discuss it if you want to keep touching me like that?" Bianca's breathing had hitched, and her eyes had drifted shut again. On the next pass up, Janet rolled her hand over Bianca's breast, fondling it gently, softly tweaking her nub between her fingertips, gauging her response to the stimulation.

"Okay."

Bianca lazily moved her hand down, trying to stroke down Janet's legs, before Janet stopped her. "Just…" She moved in to taste Bianca's lips, "Let me," She said, before pressing Bianca onto her back with a deep exploratory kiss, her hand applying pressure to Bianca's breast, forcing her to roll and rolling with her at the same time.

Bianca's hand came down onto the back of Janet's neck. Without breaking the kiss, Janet pressed herself up, twisting her body, releasing Bianca's breast and sliding her hand down, past her underwear, as low as she could reach on Bianca's outer thigh before allowing her fingers to drift over and caress her inner thigh. Bianca lifted her knee, allowing Janet further access to her sensitive skin. Janet stroked over her other thigh, before allowing her fingers to lightly brush Bianca's cotton clad labia. Janet felt Bianca smile into the kiss, and repeated the motion, stroking over her underwear with her fingertips, gently scraping her nails over Bianca's lower belly at the end of each pass.

Their kissing intensified, Bianca cupping at Janet's breasts, rolling and tugging at a nipple in time with the kiss, her hips undulating against Janet's fingers, chasing pleasant sensations, bucking away from ticklish ones.

Janet's fingers toyed with the elastic on the side of Bianca's underwear, a tackyness forming that Janet desperately wanted to investigate, scraping her fingers under the band, slippery wetness coating the back of her fingers. Bianca moaned, breaking contact with her kiss, before changing positions and tonguing down a slender delicate neck, searching fragile collarbones, before laving over her breasts with her tongue, alternating between long, flat licks, soft nibbles and circles around her areoles.

"More." Janet moaned quietly, and Bianca complied, bringing both her hand up to firmly grasp her lovers perfect flesh, running her palms along their firm rounded smoothness, continuing her lazy circles around the areole, before slowly trailing her tongue down into the valley of cleavage and then over to the other breast, before sucking a nipple into her mouth, while duplicating the sucking motions with her fingers.

Janet squirmed and gasped as Bianca kissed and sucked every centimetre and curve of her breasts; her fingers erratically stroking under Bianca's underwear, slipping over her inner labia, teasing her but avoiding her clit. When she finally stroked over the side of Bianca's clit, she involuntary bucked, releasing Janet's nipple and grunting with pleasure.

"You like that?"

A moaned response.

Janet glanced over at her lover, taking in the scarlet flush that was rising to Bianca's skin, starting between her breasts and travelling up her neck. She was very aroused, and that was turning Janet on. She brushed her fingers over Bianca's breasts, causing her to gasp again, her skin tingling fire everywhere Janet touched.

Janet dipped her head, tasting the skin on Bianca's neck, savouring her salt, chasing the taste down, skirting over her perfect breasts, nibbling down her ribs, stopping occasionally to blow softly on the damp trails that she left behind.

Janet continued further, alternating between tonguing her skin and lightly brushing with her lips, until she was teasing Bianca's abdomen, tugging at Bianca's underwear with her teeth, allowing it to snap back, pretending she was having trouble getting it off. Bianca moaned and humped upwards, silently conveying her desire to be stripped bare before her lover.

Janet adjusted her position and kissed the inside of Bianca's thigh, inhaling the brunette's musky scent before leaning in to softly kiss the top of her mons. Bianca spread her legs further apart in anticipation, and Janet hooked a finger into her underwear, pulling it to the side before giving Bianca's pussy a tender kiss, before moving her mouth lower, extending her tongue and flattening it against the bottom of Bianca's bare outer lips and slowly drew it upwards until it just touched to very tip of Bianca's swollen clit which was poking out from under its hood. Janet gave Bianca another of these firm licks from just above her rosebud all the way up to her clit. On her third full bottom to top lick, Bianca's soft outer lips parted and Janet was rewarded with a strong taste of Bianca's nectar. Janet paused, let go of the panties before moving to slide them off her lover, before pressing her legs apart again, using her tongue to part the swollen inner lips and work her tongue into the velvety texture of the brunette's centre.

"Wait."

Janet looked up from where she was, her mouth and tongue not stilling, her eyes meeting Bianca's, watching Bianca's eyes flutter shut as she manoeuvred her lips just so, trying to break Bianca's resolve, to unravel her completely.

Bianca moaned, before gathering her thoughts, and whispering, "Not like this."

Janet stopped moving and frowned, uncertain. She thought she had been doing a good job, and Bianca had been enjoying herself. She certainly had no complaints in the past.

"Like this." Bianca guided Janet back up to meet her stripping off her underwear along the way, reached up for a kiss, and promptly flipped both of them, so she was on top, straddling Janet, trapping her with her arms.

"Oh." Janet uttered quietly, approvingly.

Bianca shifted again, rising up and moving downwards until she was lying directly between Janet's legs, her face directly above Janet's. Janet brought her hands up, massaging Bianca's muscular ass and back.

After a moment of staring into Janet's eyes, Bianca slowly lowered her head and pressed her mouth against the blonde's, her eyes fluttering shut as she kissed her lover, and began to slowly move and grind herself against her lover. Catching on quickly, Janet met her thrusts with her own, and they began to move in sync and grind themselves against each other. They were both breathing heavily, and Janet marvelled at the contact between their breasts, the occasional contact of their nipples sparking through her like electricity.

This full body contact love-making was one of Bianca's favourites, however she had never indulged in it with Janet; more often than not Janet preferred quicker encounters, snatched time before one of them fell asleep from exhaustion, all mouths and fingers. Bianca wouldn't call her lover's love making perfunctory, but, if pressed, she would admit that it did leave a little something to be desired.

Janet reached upwards, tangling her fingers in Bianca's hair, trapping her close, building the heat and passion of their kiss, her tongue slipping past Bianca's lips and softly exploring the brunette's mouth. Bianca reciprocated by massaging Janet's tongue with her own in response, and as their kiss deepened, and tongues continued to caress, Bianca's body flooded her brain with all the incredible sensations at once.

Janet's right hand was scraping her fingernails up and down her ass cheek, her left grasping at Bianca's hip, acting as a guide and setting the pace of Bianca's thrusting. Her left leg was wrapped around Bianca's thigh, and her right foot was running up and down Bianca's calf.

They were panting hard when they finally broke the kiss, and Janet smiled at Bianca.

"I love you." She stated, before repositioning herself under Bianca so their groins were lined up perfectly together, and Bianca pushed her hips forward slightly and shifted them until she was pressing to top of her pussy right up against Janet's. This elicited a loud gasp from the blonde. Bianca undulated her hips so that her lower body pulled away slightly and then quickly pressed forward again into the same spot.

Janet closed her eyes, both her hands gripping firmly onto Bianca's hips, her pelvis tilted up for maximum contact, her feet bracing herself against the mattress. Bianca stilled herself, waiting for Janet to open her eyes again. She smiled at her lover's pleading look, and asked, "Do you like that?"

Janet whimpered, and moved her right hand up to tangle into Bianca's hair, before closing her hand into a fist, tilting her head and reaching up to nibble Bianca's neck and mouth her earlobe, causing Bianca's eyes to fall closed, her nipples to harden further and a loud whimper to escape from her lips.

"You wanna play it like that, huh?" Bianca asked as she started to undulate her hips again. "I'm gonna fuck you until you cant come any more."

Janet bit her lower lip. They had never talked dirty during sex before. They'd never talked dirty at all before, but it was arousing her to unknown heights.

Bianca kissed her again and began pumping in earnest, rubbing their pussies together, pushing herself up so she was braced on her hands against the mattress, pushing rhythmically, rolling her hips, feeling the pressure build and release, over and over again, sweat dripping into her eyes, gradually increasing her speed, rutting firmly and surely, ignoring Janet's palm trying to set the pace. Finally, Janet released Bianca's ass and fisted her hands into the sheets, giving herself up to the pace Bianca was setting.

The amount of fluid leaking from the two women resulted in a fantastically pleasant sensation of friction; Janet was gasping with pleasure and Bianca was panting from exertion. She dug her toes into the mattress and began to assist her movements by using the muscles in her legs adding power to her movements.

"Faster. Please, faster!" Janet pleaded, and Bianca complied. "Don't stop. Babe, I'm close. Don't stop." She whimpered.

Sweat streamed down Bianca's body as she maintained the tempo, her lower back was starting to ache slightly but she was determined to finish what she started. She continued to pump her body against Janet's.

"Ahhhh…" Janet's voice went to a higher pitch as she wrapped her legs around Bianca's ass, wildly thrusting her hips into Bianca's she came, harder than she'd ever come before. Bianca started to slow down, when Janet prompted her on with her legs, maintaining friction and contact, uttering, "Please. I'm still…" The rest of her words were lost in a drawn out moan, her body shaking and vibrating, while Bianca kept pulsing in time with Janet's orgasm.

Bianca shifted her hips again, so she had more direct contact, and as she rode out the last of waves of Janet's orgasm, Bianca's back arched as she finally came, her muscles spasming and relaxing as wave after wave of pleasure radiated from her pussy into every part of her body.

Trembling and breathing hard from effort, Bianca finally ceased movement, her body propped up away from Janet's, a film of sweat coating her body. She dipped her head and panted, her arms still rigid, blinking sweat from her eyes.

"That was…" Janet huffed, blowing out a large breath, rolling her eyes and trying to catch her own breath.

"Mmmmm?" Bianca prompted smugly.

"Come here, you." Janet reached behind Bianca's neck and pulled her down, getting her to rest her bodyweight on her, luxuriating in the hot slippery body resting on her, drawing her lover into a deep kiss.

"Was that ok?" Bianca asked when they broke the kiss.

"Ok?" Janet smiled warmly. "That was…. More than OK. Fantastic. Amazing. Awesome."

Bianca rolled off Janet onto her back, a broad smile on her face.

"Yeah. It was, wasn't it?"

Janet rolled onto her side, watching her lover's eyes droop. The emotional stress from the day before combined with the alcohol, late night and the physical activity was taking its toll on Bianca.

Janet smiled affectionately and kissed her shoulder. "Go to sleep, darling." She pulled the sheet up over both of them, cuddled up to Bianca and promptly fell asleep herself.


End file.
